Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 27, 1984)
Page BAThe Battalion/Friday, July 27, it Gymnast questions judges TANK MCNAMARA* by Jeff Millar & Bill Hin: ‘10’ too commonplace United Press International Fa LOS ANGELES — On a July eve ning in 1976, Romania’s Nadia Co maneci was awarded a “10” by a panel of gymnastics judges and the world praised her perfection. Now the score of 10, the highest a mnast can achieve for a routine, as become almost commonplace. “I don’t think you can win a gold medal at these Olympics unless you get a 10 somewhere along the way,” said American gymnast Bart Con ner. “And as amazing as you might think it is, it might be possible to get a 10 for a routine here and when you average it in with your other scores, you might not even win a medal.” The winners in gymnastics, as they are in such sports as diving and figure skating, are determined by opinions. And those opinions, in fluenced as they are by national fa voritism, often make more news than the competition itself. But the problem that has surfaced in gymnastics the past decade is that the judges have too high an opinion “ he “I think it all started when Co maneci got those 10’s at Montreal,” said Conner, who at 26 is the old man of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team. “People started thinking about perfection.” Now the judges are apparendy thinking too mu<di about it. “It has gotten to a point where a score of 9.9 is nothing more than a certificate of participation,” said Conner. Conner leads a U.S. mens’s team that is expected to battle Japan for a silver medal in the team competi tion. With the Soviet Union boycott, China (winners of the 1983 world ti tle) is the heavy favorite for the gold. The Americans already have re ceived a break since they will do their compulsory routines during the evening of July 29. Both the Chinese and Japanese must perform during the morning session that day. The difference in drawing a awarded in the morning,” said Con nor, a member of the stay-at-home American Olympic team of 1980. “I guess they figure that if they give good scores in the morning, tney won’t have any better scores to give in the evening.” That, in essence, is the whole problem. “What happens when you give somebody a 10 and then somebody comes along and does better,” said Conner. “You can’t give them a 10.1. We saw people getting 10’s in the world championships at Bucharest (last year) and not getting medals. “Sometimes you see a mediocre routine getting a 9.8 early in the day and there are more than 70 gym nasts left to perform. There isn’t much room left before you get to 10. Stones can't psyche Jianhua By MILTON RICHMAN United Press International Sports Editor morning or evening session again has to do with the odd manner in of the people they are judging. which scoring develops during a gymnastic competition. “Usually, you find lower scores “What you need to see is a re vamping of the scoring system and I think you will see it happening soon. It doesn’t make any difference what the winning scores might be. You just need to be sure the relative dif ference between the competitors is maintained.” Johnson gets shot at medal United Press International LOS ANGELES — Everywhere she turns, Kathy Johnson is re minded of how old she is. She calls herself the “graceful old lady” of gymnastics, and she good- naturedly goes along with the steady flow of “old” jokes directed at her. She has been reduced to tears know ing she is well beyond retirement age, and she now accepts that the day of decision is just a step away. By gosh, Kathy Johnson is all of 24, although at 5 feet and 100 pounds, and with a soft, small, open face, she easily can pass for a teen ager. “Every once in a while,” she says in reflection, “I look in a mirror, see my ponytail and leotards, and say, ‘This is a heckuva way for a 24-year- old to carry on’.” Johnson’s conflict with reality stems from the nature of gymnastics, where a 20-year-old is considered over-the-hill. Her teammates on the United States Olympic team are as young as 15, making Johnson almost a motner figure to them. “They joke about me being an old lady,” Johnson said. “They like walk ing around the (Olympic) Village and getting people to guess my age. Someone guessed 16; they just loved that.” Johnson calls herself a very emo tional person, one who “can laugh and cry at the same time,” and one reason she still is active, and is finally getting her first chance to compete m the Olympics, is she just didn’t know how to quit. “I used to break down sometimes thinking about it,” she said. “It would break my heart to quit, and I’d ask if that meant I would be a gymnast till I was 50. I had to dig deep down sometimes to hang in there. “Now I want to retire, and there’s a difference. There’s no shame in re tiring; there is in quitting if you’re scared.” A year and a half ago, she decided to give the sport one last herculean effort, so she left her home in At lanta to move to Huntington Beach, Calif., where she could work under Don Peters, the Olympic coach. Training at least four hours a day, five to six days a week, Johnson de- 1ft - J - - voted herself to earning a berth in the Olympics, an honor that was denied her because of the 1980 boy cott. Although she rates behind tea mmates Mary Lou Retton and Ju- lianne McNamara, the petite blonde has a shot at a medal. “This is an extra sweet experience for me,” Johnson said. “The Olym pics allows you to learn a lot about yourself. It’s such a high goal. This will be the highlight of my career, but my whole career is a highlight.” Johnson dismisses the things she has denied herself, such as a prom, or an ice cream, or a slice of pizza, with singular unimportance. “Although I can never go to the prom, if I had quit I’d never have “T1 LOS ANGELES - I’ve got a mes sage for Dwight Stones, still looking for an Olympic gold medal in the high jump. If he”s trying to psyche out Zhu jianhua, the world record holder, he’s wasting his time because Zhu doesn’t understand a word of English, and in more ways than one he’s the Chinese equivalent of Fer nando Valenzuela. Remember Fernando when he first came up with the Dodgers? They’d say all these marvelous things things about him and he’d lis ten impassively without ever chang ing expression, waiting for the com ments or questions to be interpreted into Spanish for him. You should see how well he’s learned, though. About a month ago, he had been roughed up for three runs in one in ning by the Padres and Tommy La- sorda thought he could use a little verbal support. Speaking to him in Spanish, Lasorda told him if he didn’t give up any more runs, the Dodgers would win the game for him. high jump competition, so much the better. Zhu soared to the top of all the high jumpers in the world when he cleared the bar at 7-9 V* in Peking during the spring of 1983. But a couple of months later, whether he ate too much before the meet or sim- couldn’t get off the mark, the icspectacled, dark-haired Like Valenzuela, Zhu hasiil quite a bit of kidding about histn which is altogether different 4 Fernando’s, and like the IV;: pitcher also, he’s pretty mud key in most things he does. ply bes When the Chinese highjrat was asked if he felt any burden ing as a role model for all they people in his country, he said: “Not really. It’s a great honor.' Vol u “Are you sure?” Valenzuela chal lenged him in perfect English. Stones isn’t sure about Zhu, ei ther, not only because the 21-year- old, 6-foot-4, 150-pound Shanghai native has next to no knowledge at all of English, but even when Stones’ remarks are interpreted for him, he attaches about as much importance to them as he does to a Chinese for tune cookie. Stones isn’t sure about Zhu, either, not only be cause the 21-year-old, 6- foot-4, 150-pound Shang hai native has next to no knowledge at all of En glish, but even when Stones’ remarks are inter preted for him, he at taches about as much im portance to them as he does to a Chinese fortune cookie. Thare's a typical FernandoVilBj f T 1 zuela answer right there. H II" Listening to Zhu and to the members of the Chinese delerf including Lu Jindong and li'l rong, two assisunt Chefde Mi I couldn’t help but be remindel' my trip to the Peoples Repubh China with the U.S. Trackandh team in 1975. At the time,: Chinese were getting ready toaji for re-entry into the Olympics this is the first summer one thes lx? in since 1936. Cl stringbean from China was a big dis appointment in Helsinki when he could do no better than 7-6 in fin ishing third. this,” she said. “There are so many many felt the highs I have finishing off a routine you’ve tried so hard to per fect.” When it comes time to stand up, Stones has never been caught sitting down. Anytime he feels something should be said, he says it, and if what he has to say is any way related to help him beat an opponent in some What the cocky but knowledgea ble Stones has been saying is that the Chinese have mismanaged Zhu. They didn’t handle him the way they should’ve. They didn’t get him enough international competition, Stones says, wondering how Zhu is f oing to react in front of close to 00,000 people in the Los Angeles Coliseum. On that trip nine years athletes competed in three sepan meets with the aspiring, lean: Chinese in Canton, Shanghai £ Peking. As near as I remember, total final score of the three m was something like 92 to 3 info of the U.S., but that didn’t fan! Chinese a bit. They kept sayin| same thing all the time: Friei first, competition second. LOS cused crowd one pi ers, c< plus s assaul Mond Ah Distri< They’re enjoying their retun, the Olympics and say the sametl ecutoi or W Danie wood tody. Yoi murd Eileet plus i murd weapi Ijured If Zhu even says it doesn’t mattetl him at all whether he wins a rctl or not So take that, Dwight Stones. night could murd Pol drove | sidew wood mph, ing mow 1 ! We can take i Afte: I tire You, | and I | hide Ni I were I was 1 cum | Ope E AT WALDEN POND, WE CAN TAKE THE heat! After experiencing a recent fire at the new Walden Pond Apartments, we’d like to thank the College Station Fire Department for their immediate aid in extinguishing the blaze. At Walden Pond you can take the heat in comfort, too! The secluded wooded setting lets you relax in an exclusive atmosphere offering a private lake, jogging trails, pool, hot tub spa, exercise room and a showcase clubhouse for entertaining! interior, washer/dryer connections and large arched windows. Call or visit Walden Pond today and experience an exciting new lifestyle this fall! For best selection, reserve your apartment now! Because of their efforts, Walden Pond was spared and today has over 80 percent of the bui Id in gs near completion and ready for occupancy this fall. The unique architectural design gives you the apartment you’ve always wanted including a fireplace, vaulted ceiling, ceiling fan, ample storage, private terrace or balcony, designer Walden fond 1 'hi Developed by Guy King Enterprises Incorporated 700 FM 2818 (off FM 2818 at Holleman) 696-5777