Precious Medal

By MIKE PENNER

Sept. 5, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Sydney Olympics do not begin for another 10 days and already the U.S. is playing from behind.

Mining the home-field/pool/track/gymnasium advantage for a Games-high 44 gold medals in Atlanta in 1996, Team USA already has seen some of that glitter vanish before its eyes.

Gone are the gold medals won by the “Magnificent Seven” women’s gymnastics team and Shannon Miller on the balance beam. Miller limped out of last month’s U.S. Olympic trials, unable to finish, and the eventual American starting lineup for Sydney spent more time sitting on the floor of the Fleet Center in Boston than most of the paying spectators.

So subtract two from 44, and then subtract two more. Archer Justin Huish, a double winner in Atlanta in the men’s individual and team competitions, won’t be repeating, having resigned from the 2000 archery team after being charged with marijuana possession with intent to sell.

Down to 40.

Except 1996 decathlon gold medalist Dan O’Brien got hurt during the Olympic trials and didn’t make the 2000 team . . . and long jump gold medalist Carl Lewis retired . . . and 200-meter gold medalist Michael Johnson blew out a hamstring at the trials . . . and high jumper Charles Austin won his 1996 gold medal in large part to Javier Sotomayor’s inflamed knee, and now Sotomayor’s knee is fine . . . and men’s triple jump gold medalist Kenny Harrison didn’t make it out of the prelims at the U.S. trials, with no one else there jumping within 3 1/2 feet of his 1996 Olympic record.

Down to 35.

Then you have a freestyle wrestling team without 1996 Olympic champions Kendall Cross and Kurt Angle, and a women’s swim team without 100-meter backstroke winner Beth Botsford, and a synchronized swimming gold medal that probably will be ceded to the Russians in 2000.

That’s a 13-gold medal deficit, and that’s not counting the Americans’ very nervous defense of their men’s 800-meter freestyle swim relay title--the Aussies are lining up Ian Thorpe, Michael Klim and Grant Hackett for a major assault--and a U.S. women’s soccer team that is no longer headers and shoulders above the rest of the world.

Which is one reason why Marion Jones’ audacious attempt at five gold medals represents as much American hope as hype. Just to maintain the status quo from Atlanta, Jones will need to win the women’s 100-meter sprint (Gail Devers won in ‘96) and contribute to team victories in the women’s 400- and 1,600-meter relays (Americans swept the relays in ‘96).

Then she’d have to win the 200 (likely) and/or the long jump (long shot) to pick up ground lost since ’96.

Team USA will have to rally around Maurice Greene’s bid to recapture the men’s 100-meter sprint before anchoring a favored 400-meter sprint team . . . and Devers’ attempt to cross-over to the top of the women’s 100-meter hurdles medals podium . . . and Regina Jacobs and Suzy Favor Hamilton in the women’s 1,500 . . . and Anthony Washington in the men’s discus . . . and Gary Hall Jr.’s two freestyle sprints against Russia’s Aleksandr Popov . . . and Tom Malchow in the men’s 200 butterfly . . . and two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong’s two starts in the men’s road race and road time trial . . . and the abilities of boxers Brian Viloria, Ricardo Juarez and Michael Bennett to convert individual 1999 world championships into 2000 Olympic gold.

The U.S. record for most gold medals won at an Olympics away from home is 45, first accomplished in Paris in 1924 and equaled in Mexico City in 1968, assisted in large part by a men’s track and field Dream Team that featured Bob Beamon, Jim Hines, Tommie Smith, Lee Evans, Jim Ryun, Bob Seagren, Al Oerter, Dick Fosbury, Bill Toomey, Willie Davenport and Randy Matson.

More recently, the U.S. totaled 33 gold medals in Munich in 1972, 34 in Montreal in 1976, 36 in Seoul in 1988 and 37 in Barcelona in 1992.

To break the 40-gold barrier in Sydney will take some serious grinding--and assists from such new events as women’s pole vault and women’s water polo--but it can be done.

A look at American gold medal prospects--those who should and those who could:

Favorites

Track and field: Jones will be favored in three events (100, 200 and 400 relay) and will run a leg on the 1,600 relay team against a formidable Australian squad led by 400-meter world champion Cathy Freeman. Greene and Johnson already have canceled each other out in the men’s 200, virtually handing the gold to Trinidad and Tobago’s Ato Boldon, but combined, they still figure to crank out four gold medals--Greene in the 100 and 400 relay, Johnson in the 400 and 1,600 relay.

Allen Johnson returns to defend his gold medal in the men’s 110 hurdles, and will be pushed by teammate Mark Crear. Any one of three shotputters (C.J. Hunter, Adam Nelson, Andy Bloom) could succeed Randy Barnes as Olympic champion. Either Eric Thomas or Angelo Taylor should keep the men’s 400 hurdles title--won by Derrick Adkins in ‘96--in American hands. And Devers is favored to add a 100-meter hurdles championship to the 100 sprint golds she won in ’92 and ’96.

Swimming: Lenny Krayzelburg holds world records in the men’s 100 and 200 backstroke; put him down for gold medals in both events. Tom Dolan and Brooke Bennett should repeat their victories in the men’s 400 individual medley and women’s 800 freestyle, respectively. The U.S. swept all six relays in 1996; four is more likely this time around, with the Americans vulnerable in both 800 freestyle relays.

Basketball: The first-team WNBA All-Stars should easily defend the championship they won in Atlanta. The second-team NBA All-Stars--no Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill or Allen Iverson--should repeat as men’s champions as well, although the process will be a bit more workmanlike. With the possible exception of Vince Carter, there’s no dream in this team.

Cycling: Armstrong will be tough to beat in the road time trial, where his only competition will be the clock. Considering what Armstrong has done to the best distance riders in the world at the Tour de France, the clock could be taking a licking.

Boxing: Light flyweight Viloria and featherweight Juarez are world champions in their respective events. Should both come through, they would double the Americans’ gold medal total in 1996 (one, David Reid) and 1992 (one, Oscar De La Hoya).

Softball: The champions of Atlanta look unstoppable in Sydney. Australia dealt the Americans their only loss en route to the gold medal in 1996 and will be strong in front of raucous home support, but since Dot Richardson returned to the U.S. lineup after a 2 1/2-year absence, the Aussies are 0-5 against the Americans.

Tennis: The U.S. won three of the four tennis gold medals in Atlanta, and men’s singles champion Andre Agassi and women’s singles winner Lindsay Davenport are entered again in Sydney. Neither is favored this time, but because Team USA has Venus and Serena Williams, Americans figure to retain the women’s singles and doubles titles.

In With a Chance

Women’s soccer: The U.S. has won the last two major international championships--the 1996 Olympics, the 1999 World Cup--but did so in the comfort of their own home. The rest of the world has closed the gap on the once-invincible Americans, who no longer can turn to Michelle Akers for poise and direction in high-pressure predicaments. After years of struggling with illness and injuries, Akers finally retired from the national team last month, leaving the Americans a bit more vulnerable against a potent first-round field that includes 1996 silver medalist China and 1995 world champion Norway.

Track and field: American Stacy Dragila is the world record holder in the new Olympic event of women’s pole vault, but Australia’s Emma George isn’t far behind--and there’s all that home-grown support. Their one-on-one contest should be among the highlights of the track and field competition.

Romania’s Gabriela Szabo and Russia’s Svetlana Masterkova are the runners to beat in the women’s 1,500, but in the last two months, Americans Jacobs and Favor Hamilton have turned it into a four-person toss-up. Jacobs ran 4:01.01 to win the U.S. trials in late July, followed days later by Favor Hamilton’s startling 3:57.40 in Oslo--just shy of Mary Slaney’s 1985 American record of 3:57.12.

Washington is the defending world champion in the men’s discus, but didn’t throw well at the trials, finishing third at 207 feet 10 inches behind Adam Setliff and John Godina.

Swimming: Hall will have two opportunities to chase down Popov--in the men’s 50 freestyle, where Popov holds the world record, and in the 100 freestyle, where they should be joined in a stellar final field by Australia’s Michael Klim. Hall’s best chance is the 50; his best time of 21.76 isn’t far off Popov’s world record of 21.64.

Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson will have to shelve their feud long enough to get through the rounds of the women’s 100 butterfly competition, a loaded field that includes world record holder Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands and Susie O’Neill and Petria Thomas of Australia.

Ed Moses is No. 1 in the world in the men’s 100 breaststroke, but calming his nerves before venturing out for an Olympic final could be a challenge. Sixteen-year-old Megan Quann is No. 1 in the world in the women’s 100 breaststroke, but South Africa’s Penny Heyns owns the world record and the gold medal from 1996.

Cycling: What’s a 145-mile Olympic road race when you’ve won the 2,250-mile Tour de France twice? Armstrong would be favored here, but pre-race strategy could work against him if he is assigned to help teammate and two-time world champion George Hincapie race for the gold instead.

Boxing: Bennett won his 1999 amateur heavyweight title by default when two-time Olympic champion Felix Savon of Cuba refused to fight in protest of a decision that went against one of Savon’s teammates. Savon figures to be waiting for Bennett in the final this time.

Baseball: Now that the Cubans have proved definitively that their grade of baseball is superior to that played by American collegians, the U.S. will throw a roster of minor-league professionals--and Tom Lasorda--at them.

Women’s water polo: The Dutch are the defending world champions and the Aussies will be difficult to defeat at home, but the U.S. went 6-0 against the Olympic field in a July tuneup tournament in Los Alamitos.

Taekwondo: If Kay Poe wins the gold in the women’s flyweight division, she will owe it all to her best friend, Esther Kim. Poe, No. 1 in the world in her weight class, dislocated a knee before she was scheduled to face Kim in the final at the U.S. trials. The injury would have automatically assigned the lone Olympic berth to Kim, but Kim forfeited the final match in deference to her hurt friend, enabling Poe to advance to the Summer Games.

Shooting: Kim Rhode returns after winning the 1996 gold medal in the women’s double trap. Josh Lakatos is also back after winning the silver in the men’s trap in Atlanta.

SAMARANCH ARRIVES

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch arrived in Sydney to preside over his final Olympic Games. Page 2

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Going for the Gold

The leaders among nations in gold medals in the Summer Olympics since the 1968 Summer Games:

1996 ATLANTA

Unified Team 45

United States 44

Germany 33

1992 BARCELONA

Unified Team 45

United States 37