The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, July 22, 1996, Image 3

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    The Battalion
selvf
itrifugal 2 MONDAY
aid many nt
ility ofdirtjf
he concern ij;
P ro cess is(
Sf 'id he ah:
"'table donat;
is very clean;
tniosphere,’|
he clinic ted
>ge and have;
nanners."
8 niany n Sj
hemophilli
women alii
cople carry;
antibodies^
iat can bent
ie to prevent
; i the plaaw
'e headquaftj
lore it is atis
r.”
ion centers;
"out the U-j
stgate Plas;
one in Ted
r is tentatis*
n Septemh’
ve.
ood,” Faulkj
d we could Ij
v opening; ;
Page 3
awar^
: and fu&
ing out hov
ould not mi:
he project
ying to cor
I am going:
out having
ss said, 'll*
s, and wee
ent.”
the techno!
the econom;
iple and wtj
Holtzapi
to make rei
chemical!
) to 20 cents
really cheo:
■tty clever'
at cheap. ^
■icks we pi*
its.”
not get ft
e because t
h Presidet
;et him.
be able
e nearf
‘He gof
>r the N
oview pr
Dvermne:
eject fal
When!
je ablet
AVS TO
i£T OOTtf
! FLAUV. ‘
pm*
MPLETIW
: 5QUAH
ATLANTA ’96
Olympic
GLANCE
ATLANTA (AP)
SOFTBALL DEBUT
The'U.S. softball team, in first
Olympic game for the sport, beat
Puerto Rico 10-0.
GYMNASTS SHINE
U.S. women, led by Shannon
Miller, were second to Russia in
compulsories.
SWIMMING BREAKTHROUGH
Tom Dolan gave United States its
first gold, In 400 tM. Men’s 800-meter
freestyle relay team also won; Penny
Meyns of South Afriea broke her
world regard in iOO^meter breast-
stroke breiiffls, then wen geld later,
weightlifting record
Ghineae weightiifter Tang Ning-
sheng broke world record in iSO-
pound class (677 S/4 pounds).
AIM AND FIRE
Josh Lakatos and Lance Dade
won silver and bronee In trap
shooting, matching total won by
United States in 1992.
NOT AGAIN
For second time in two days, judo
athlete — this time Walid A1 Awazen
of Jordan — disqualified for reporting
to wrong place for weigh-in.
MEDALS
United States took medals lead
with 10 (2-6-2), followed by Ger
many with nine (0-4-6) and France
with eight (3-2-3).
QUOTEBOOK
‘Tve had dreams of that mo
ment for so long.” 34-year-old Dot
Richardson, on hitting a home run
in softball.
“It was a little more pressure
trying to get the first U.S. gold. It’s
one of the great thrills of my life,”
Tom Dolan, said on winning a gold
medal in the 400 IM.
AGGIE SPOTLIGHT
Centennial Games underway
U.S. swimming team leads
American medal charge
Janet Evans looking to
make one last splash
ATLANTA (AP) — One day
after the Dream Team’s sleepy
first game victory, the U.S. wom
en’s teams — basketball, softball
and soccer — demonstrated how
to dominate in their debuts. But
It was the men’s swimmers who
provided the Americans with
their first gold medals of the AL
ianta Games.
Tom Dolan edged out team
mate Drie Namesnik to wiu
the 400-meter individual med
ley before four of thoir team
mates swept the 000-meter
freestyle relay Sunday night.
First daughter Ghelsea Clinton
cheered them all on to victory.
"It was a little more pres
sure trying to get the first U.S.
S old," admitted the 20-year-old
>oian. who clutched a small
American flag in his right
hand during the national an
them. "It’s one of the great
thrills of my life.”
lire men were joined on the
medal stand by 14-year-old
Amanda Beard, the pet-loving
California teen who stood bare
foot to accept her silver in the
100-meter breaststroke. The
swim team, through eight races,
had a surprisingly strong seven
medals — two gold, four silver
and one bronze.
WOMEN'S
BASKETBALL/SOFTBALL
How good was the softball
team Sunday? Their Olympic
opener was so one-sided, offi
cials stopped it early. How
good was the U.S. women’s
basketball team? Not even the
critical eye of USOC vice presi
dent George Steinbrenner af-
In USA Base
ball’s 4-1 victory
over Nicaragua,
Saturday, right-
fielder Chad Allen
went 2- for-4 with
a run, a double
and a triple.
USA will face
South Korea
tonight at 7 p.m.
The Line on Allen:
ab r h rbi
■ B 4 . ■
1 i i 1
*< ■ zmmmm
llllllllll
13 ; k 3
' ' ' ' '< •:* ’ ' ' i
AMlktmmJj I
fected them in a 101-84
victory over Cuba.
“Just because we can’t
dunk doesn’t mean our
games aren’t fun,” guard
Dawn Staley said. “It was
a good time.”
New York Yankees own
er Steinbrenner and
Olympian Seattle Pippen
were among those taking in
the distaff Dream Team,
whieh was led by Lisa
Leslie's §4 points. The
women even outseored the
men's team, which rang up
66 points Saturday against
Argentina.
The gold-medal favorite
softball team, playing for
the first-ever Olympic
medal in their sport,
ripped Puerto Rico 10-0.
The game was stopped af
ter six innings one in*
ning early — under a rule
that prevents running up
the score.
"The meaning of this
game was different, and
to see those Olympic
rings associated with our
game is truly a great day
for all softball fans and
anyone associated with
this game,” enthused des
ignated hitter Michele
Smith said.
Both of the women’s
teams entered the
Olympics on a tear. The
women hoopsters went 52-
0 in their pre-games
schedule, while the soft-
ball team has won three
straight world championships
and lost just one game in inter
national play since 1986.
SWIMMING
Swimmer Dolan nipped team
mate Namesnik by .35 seconds
to give America a 1-2 sweep in
the 400-meter — and the first
gold medal for the host nation on
Day 2 of competition.
“Dolan Is Golden” read one
sign in the stands, and the gold
medalist — who overcame a bat
tle with severe asthma — led the
crowd in a chant of “U-S-A!”
After Beard’s silver medal
performance, the relay team
defeated Sweden and Germany
for the swimmers’ second gold
of the night.
The big news again in the
qualifying heats was the fail
ure of the Chinese women.
The team, which figured to
dominate here, instead placed
Medals table
HHli; A 1 1 A N 1 A
Through 27 total medals
fi
S
B
tet
United States i
6
2
10
tMMby 0
4
I
France 1
2
3
0
Russia 1
2
2
7
China 3
2
1
6
Roland 4
0
0
4
Belgium 2
0
2
4
Bulgaria 0
0
4
4
Itoly 1
1
1
3
Australia 1
0
2
3
Cuba 0
2
1
3
Hungary 0
0
3
3
Turkey 2
0
0
2
South Korea 1
1
0
2
Belarus 0
2
0
2
Bra/ll 0
1
1
2
Sweden 0
1
1
2
Canada 0
0
2
2
Costa Rica 1
0
0
1
Ireland 1
0
0
1
Kazakhstan 1
0
0
1
South Africa 1
0
0
1
New Zealand!
0
0
1
Greece 0
1
0
1
Japan 0
1
0
1
Spain 0
1
0
1
Yugoslavia 0
0
1 '
1
no one in the finals after win
ning just a single gold medal
on Saturday.
The Chinese swimmers,
queens of the world champi
onships two years ago, failed to
bounce back from a subsequent
steroid scandal.
The other big swimming
news: Penny Heyns of South
Africa took gold in the 100-me
ter breaststroke, outswimming
Beard after earlier smashing
her own record in event with a
time of 1:07.02.
Claudia Poll’s win in the 200-
meter freestyle delivered the
first Olympic swimming gold
medal in Costa Rica history.
WOMEN'S GYMNASTICS
The women’s gymnastics
squad, before a screaming
Georgia Dome crowd of more
than 32,000, wound up in sec-
See Olympics, Page 4
ATLANTA (AP) — Janet
Evans holds three world
records, has four Olympic gold
medals and a silver. She has
carried the Olympic torch
twice, and then got to pass it
over to The Greatest.
So how does she top ail that?
It eouid happen Monday,
when the 400-meter freestyle of
fers Evans a strong chance to be-
eome the first U,S, woman to
win five Summer Olympics golds
and to tie speedskater Donnie
Biair for most gold medals by a
U,S. female athlete.
But the swimmer with the
unorthodox windmiiiing
stroke and the dazzling smile,
whom the world has watched
grow up from the petite 16-
year-old In Seoul who didn’t
even have a driver’s license,
is determined not to let any*
thing spoil this, her
final, Olympics.
"For me to be on
this Olympic team
was my goal, to finish
my career on home
soil," said Evans, who
turns 25 next month.
“Thfse Iftsl few
months have been a
dream come true. If I
do well, it’s a good way to finish
my career.”
The 400 — she’ll also com
pete in the 800 — offers a
chance to avenge her upset de
feat in Barcelona. Winning it
back “would be fun,” she says,
but regardless, there will no
repeat of her tearful disap
pointment in Barcelona, which
helped push her into a short
lived retirement.
“If I don’t do well, then it’s an
honor just to be here,” she said.
The honors began when she
served as the third Olympic
torchbearer, following decathlon
champion Rafer Johnson and
the granddaughter of
Jesse Owens as the
flame began its 84-day
journey from Los Ange
les. On Friday night, she
became No. 10,000 as
she dashed up a ramp to
hand it over to Muham
mad Ali for the lighting
of the flame for the Cen
tennial Olympics,
“I did not know until
about three hours before
I did it,” she told NBC
afterward. “And I have
to tell you, that was the
greatest thrill, because
when the crowd was
cheerihg for the torch
when I was standing out there,
it was awesome.
“But then when he stepped
out there, I mean it was just
electricity and it was the
greatest feeling. I was very
honored to be giving some
thing so monumental to him.”
And being the last tereh-
bearer made her feel "very,
very, very, very honored,"
That's one "very" for eaeh
gold medal,
Evans is one of the few
Amerman wemen swimmers
who had been given a shot at
winning a gold, But Evans,
whose three gold medals at
Seoul were all the more stun
ning because of wide belief she
beat drug-enhanced competi
tors, noted that four of five Chi
nese swimmers failed to make it
out of Saturday’s preliminaries.
"For me to be on this Olympic
team was my goal, to finish my
career on home soil,"
-JANET EVANS
u.s. Olympic swimmer
“I think it’s a good sign for
swimming and it’s nice to
know that if they were taking
steroids, it doesn’t really seem
like maybe they are any more,”
she said.
“I can’t say the competition
is 100 percent clean, but for me,
I’ve seen the Eastern bloc swim
mers and the Chinese swim
mers start off a competition by
dominating the first couple of
races, and it’s really intimidate
ing for us, who train hard and
are clean,” she said. “It was nice
tonight that everyone was just
doing our best, and we have a
chance to win a lot of medals,”
The Olympic
career of
Janet Evans
1988 Seoul Games:
Three gold medals- 400-m, 800-m
and 1600-m freestyle
1992 Barcelona Games:
Gold Medal- 800-m freestyle
1996 Atlanta Games:
Competing in 400-m and 800-m
freestyle
DITOR
HI
R
HICS EPITO*
the fall
-ssions
Texas
Lending A Helping Hand
Various volunteer support groups spend time promoting A&M athletic programs
By Ross Hecox
The Battalion
hey are rather conspicuous at Olsen Field
during the baseball season. Fans can spot
them before, during and after games
roaming the stands for hidden foul balls.
And, of course, they answer to the crowd’s familiar cry
— “Pick it upl” — to retrieve bats and baseballs that fly off
the back screen.
It is hard not to notice the Diamond Darlings hard at work
on the baseball field. But like the array of other host organizations
supporting A&M sports, the Diamond Darlings do more than just re
trieve baseballs.
This group is one of many that volunteer massive amounts of time
and energy to promote, support and perform a wide spectrum of ser
vices for their respective athletic programs.
While the Diamond Darlings help out the baseball program, the
football team relies on the Aggie Hostesses for support and the bas
ketball team enlists the Aggie Angels.
The 30 Loves, the Goal Patrol and the Aggie Gents also work hard
in supporting tennis, soccer and women’s basketball respectively.
The tasks these women and men perform include organizing
fundraisers and dinners, attending all home games and many away
games, passing out materials or selling programs, and showing re
cruits around campus.
“We meet recruits and help to make them comfortable and feel at
home,” Aggie Hostess Stephanie Bums said.
While the specific duties of each group vary, the mem
bers’ most important job is to attend games.
“Basically, anything that we are asked to do,
we do,” Diamond Darlings captain Leslie
Walton said.
“At Olsen, we sell programs and chase
the ball. When people come into Olsen,
%
XjG/
TBS'
it’s our job to be cheerful. We are there to promote Aggie Baseball.”
Jessica Hatch, who was an Aggie Angel the last three years, said the
Angels try to motivate fans at A&M basketball games and help them
have a good time.
“It’s all support and motivation,” Hatch said. “The main goal is to
work at the games to make it fun for everybody.”
In addition to their duties at athletic contests, these
groups act as public relations teams for the community
and help out at charity golf tournaments, the local Spe
cial Olympics and Big Event.
Penny King, A&M associate athletic director for
business and faculty staff sponsor for the Diamond
Darlings, said representing sports teams is an im
portant job for these organizations.
I “The purpose of having them is to expose the
community to sports,'’ King said. “They try to get in
volved with any community function that is going on.
It is all volunteer work. It shows the dedication peo
ple have for A&M.”
The many tasks required of these organizations de
mand a lot of time. Simply being at a game is more than
just a two-hour affair.
“It’s really time consuming,” Hatch said. “You have to be there at
least an hour-and-a-half before the game, and an hour-and-a-half af
ter the game.”
Despite all the hard work and dedication required. Bums said be
ing a Hostess has been a rewarding and enjoyable experience.
“It is a good way to get involved with Texas A&M sports,”
Bums said. “The best thing about my job is the fact that I love
sports and found a good way to contribute to A&M sports in the
best way I can.”
Walton said the organizations provide individual and group benefits.
“You develop strong friendships,” Walton said. “I love the girls
that I am involved with.
‘You will hear a lot of the girls say that it’s time consuming, but it’s
work that you don’t mind doing. There is a personal reward. You feel
good because you’re in a position to make people feel good.”