OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Zmeskal to raise tempo: Olympic Countdown: Gymnastics
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Your support makes all the difference.CLASSICAL music almost brought about the downfall of Kim Zmeskal, the main hope in the United States women's team.
Having already struck gold twice on the Continent this year - at the world apparatus finals in Paris last April, where she won the floor exercises with a rock and roll routine, along with the beam - the Texan teenager tried to swop Bill Haley and the Comets for statelier muses.
The results were indifferent, her coach stepped in and Chuck Berry took over at the training routines. 'She's an unusual, dynamic dancer,' Bela Karoly, the coach, said. 'We're going back to her favourite style, which is rock and roll.'
Karoly should know. She guided Romania's Nadia Comaneci to Olympic gold in 1976, then repeated the trick with America's Mary Lou Retton eight years later. Now her 16-year-old protegee holds the key to an illustrious hat-trick.
Also pursuing the American dream is the highly talented Betty Okino. A bronze medallist at the 1991 world championships in Indianapolis, she has since been struggling against injury and poor form. Bringing up the rear is Shannon Miller, the precocious 15-year-old who outscored Zmeskal at the US Olympic trials in June.
The representatives of the former Eastern bloc remain the traditional rivals of the Americans. In Gina Gogean and Henrietta Onodi, Romania and Hungary have women eminently capable of going for gold.
From the former Soviet Union, Svetlana Boginskaya, the Seoul gold medallist, is the best-known gymnast, but her greatest days are past.
The biggest threat is likely to come from the Ukrainian, Tatiana Gutsu, 19, and the all-round victor at the CIS championships, another Ukrainian, Tatiana Lysenko.
The most popular competitor is destined to be Kim Hwang Suk, this year's Olga Korbut. The diminutive North Korean scored a perfect 10 on the asymmetric bars to win the gold medal in Indianapolis.
In the men's events the Unified Team hold all the aces. Grigori Misutin is the world champion, but had a miserable spring in Paris, winning only in the high bar and finishing third in his best event, the rings. A wrist injury put the Ukrainian out of the European championships in Budapest, and a modest third place followed in the CIS tournament.
The battle is more likely to be between Vitaly Scherbo and Igor Korobchinsky. Scherbo has the most flair but is tagged with the title of the nearly man. In contrast, Korobchinsky is a consistent winner.
Britain has an undistinguished history in gymnastics, but their men at least managed to qualify for the first time in decades by achieving a top-12 placing in the 1991 world championships. Neil Thomas, James May, David Cox and Terry Bartlett are the four to follow.
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