THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260631
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Olympics '96: from Atlanta
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 94 lines
The first American to fade was Dominique Moceanu, the 14-year-old who was 17th after one rotation and never in the hunt. The next was Shannon Miller, who stumbled out of bounds and medal contention on her third event, the floor exercise.
The last was Dominique Dawes, who took a haunting plunge from first to 20th place after her own botched floor routine that reduced her to tears.
In the intense, elite war of the women's gymnastics' all-around final, where near-perfection is required, near-perfection was not what Moceanu, Miller and Dawes produced Thursday at the Georgia Dome.
Lilia Podkopayeva of the Ukraine did, at least more consistently than the 35 other women who met to decide the identity of the world's finest female gymnast.
While the floor fell in on Miller and Dawes, it lifted Podkopayeva, a 17-year-old from Donetsk competing in her first Olympics, to the gold medal. Needing a score of 9.71 in her floor exercise to secure the title, Podkopayeva soared well above that for a 9.887.
It was by far the day's highest floor score - 9.812 was next-highest - and it allowed Podkopayeva to top the medal podium as three Romanians stood beside.
Gina Gogean scored a 9.8 on her final apparatus, the vault, to force Podkopayeva to beat her. When she did, Gogean had the silver medal. Bronze medals, meanwhile, went to her teammates Simona Amanar and Lavinia Milosovici, who tied with 39.067 points .
So the Americans' wild, wonderful ride that began with Tuesday's team gold medal and their new high-octane celebrity-hood ended as rides so often do in gymnastics, with mistakes and long faces.
Six-time Olympic medalist Miller, the all-around runner-up at the '92 Barcelona Games, was the top U.S. finisher in eighth place with 38.811 points. Moceanu was ninth at 38.755 and Dawes, vaulting well through her tears, climbed to a tie for 18th at 38.318.
What happened Thursday simply confirms just how special Tuesday was, when the U.S. charged to the team title with a performance impressive for its execution, depth and drama.
Drained of that momentum two days later, Miller, Dawes and Moceanu, who got to compete when the injured Kerri Strug had to scratch, could not find the same magic despite the rousing encouragement of 32,200 people, including the First Family.
President Clinton, said Moceanu's coach Bela Karolyi, met the Americans after the final and offered his perspective.
``He said, `Tonight was like if I won an election, and the next day I had to go for another election,' '' Karolyi said. ``But no excuses. We are very proud still of them because they still belong to the elite level of international gymnastics.''
They heard those words, but they consoled Dawes the least, because she lost the most.
The 19-year-old two-time national champion from Silver Spring, Md., has a history of international ``almosts.'' At the 1993 and 1994 world championships, she was in position to win golds. She finished with silvers and bothersome memories of what might have been.
But Thursday, with a 9.812 score on the uneven bars and 9.825 on the balance beam, Dawes was in first place halfway home, and almost certain of a medal.
Miller was third at that point, and Podkopayeva fifth. Miller and Dawes then moved to the floor exercise in the same group, and a few minutes later the medal hopes of both were shattered.
First, Miller stumbled forward at the end of her opening tumbling pass and later stepped out of bounds. Her 9.475 score, though, was great compared to the disastrous 9.00 Dawes drew when she tumbled into trouble.
At the end of her second pass, when Dawes stops, changes direction and flips forward, her feet slipped from under her at the edge of the mat. She caught herself with her hands before falling all the way to the floor, but the damage was irreparable - an automatic deduction of five-tenths of a point.
``I was hoping to do a little better on floor than I did the other day (9.687 in team competition),'' Dawes said. ``Unfortunately, I messed up. It was a little hard because the same thing happened at two Worlds. I was able to deal with it then, so I guess I can now.''
They were brave words, delivered through quivering lips, however, and evidence of emotions scraped bare over 48 hours. On the interview stand, while Dawes wept and Moceanu sat and blinked and smiled her innocent smile, Miller was the philosophical one.
``I don't have any regrets tonight,'' Miller said. ``I'm excited to have competed in my second Olympic Games, and I'm going home with a gold medal, so I'm happy about that.''
A gold medal for being on a seven-member team that played up to its competition together as the best teams do.
Steve Nunno, Miller's coach, has told the American women this before to strengthen their bond - ``None of us is as good as all of us.''
Consider that proven. ILLUSTRATION: Color AP photo
KEYWORDS: OLYMPICS by CNB