MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2004
SPORTS
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Greece brings Olympics home, highlights history
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Greece — With the five Olympic rings ablaze in the middle of a manmade sea, the Summer Games returned to their birthplace last Friday in an epic homecoming that joined the gods of ancient Greece and modern sport.
The biggest parade of nations in the games' history began with an announcer's cry of "Welcome back to Greece!" and culminated with a Greek windsurfing champion lighting the Olympic cauldron.
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge urged athletes to show that sport unites by overriding national, political, religious and language barriers.
A sign of the increased security measures floated overhead — a blimp with supersensitive
"We need peace, we need tolerance, we need brotherhood," he said.
A round-the-clock work blitz under broiling sun and blinding spotlights managed to pull together the vast network of venues, transport links, villages and security needed for the athletes and heads of state at the first Summer Games since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
spyware. Outside the stadium sat symbols of the delays — dirt expanses instead of landscaped paths, idle cranes and trees planted just last week.
The parade of nations began with the appearance of Greek weightlifter Pyrros Dimas, who is seeking his fourth consecutive gold medal at the games.
Drummers make their way through the Olympic Stadium during the opening ceremony for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens on Friday.
Behind him more than 10,500 athletes streamed into the stadium.
The entrance of the more than 500-member U.S. team — led by basketball guard Dawn Staley — drew cheers. But some people also stood and put their thumbs down in an apparent show of displeasure for the war in Iraq. Moments later, the Iraqis entered to a roaring ovation.
walking single file as the crowd chanted "Hellas, Hellas," as the country is called in Greek.
The Chinese team was led by 7-foot-6 Yao Ming, who towered over even other basketball giants in the main stadium field. And Paraguaay carried a banner that read "From Horror to Hope" in apparent reference to the supermarket fire that killed nearly 400 people earlier this month.
Greece, because of its links to the ancient games, entered first. But, as the host nation, the more than 440 Greek athletes also were the last into the stadium
But the Greek team had two glaring holes. A doping scandal threatens the country's biggest
track stars — 200-meter champion Kostas Kenteris and 100-meter silver medalist Katerina Thanou.
Kenteri had been considered the favorite to light the Olympic
cauldron. Instead, he and Thanou were hospitalized with minor injuries following a motorcycle wreck. The accident came after the two were accused of evading a drug test.
The Associated Press
But instead the honor went to Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, the champion from the centennial games that not Greece but Atlanta won. For Greeks, it was a poignant choice.
Two Jayhawks vie for places on U.S. Olympic team
BY FRAK KANKAR
ftankard@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRITER
At the Olympic Trials in Sacramento this July, Abby Emsick and Doug Reynolds both threw the discus. For Emsick, a Council Bluffs, Iowa junior who set the University of Kansas discus record as a freshman, this was her first taste of the Trials. For the 29-year old Reynolds, a former University of Arizona standout going into his fifth year as the University track throws coach, it was probably his last.
Reynolds placed fifth, and for the second straight Trials, he barely missed the top three finish that would earn him a spot on the Olympic team (in 2000 he placed fourth). Emsik, whose first exposure to national competition came at the 2003 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Palo Alto, Calif., placed 22nd out of 24.
Emsick landed the final qualifying spot for the Trials with her school record-setting throw of 180 feet, ten inches at the NCAA Midwest Regional meet in 2003, her best throw to date. Despite her disappointing performance at the Olympic Trials, where she threw 168 feet, two inches, Emsick said she was happy just to be there.
"I would've liked to have done better, but considering the meet it was, I did okay," she said.
Reynolds wanted a little more.
At the 1996 Olympic Trials Reynolds was a 21-year old kid from the University of Arizona with little experience at the national level. Since then, he has competed in eight straight national championships in discus, making the finals every time
Reynolds has spent the last six years as a coach as well, first as a part-time assistant at Arizona for one year, then as throws coach at Boise State for one year and now four years at Kansas.
Eight years after his first Olympic Trials, Reynolds said he had seen enough of competition as an athlete.
Last year Reynolds suffered a back injury midway through the season, and he has not been the same since.
"It's been a rough year for me," he said. "I developed some bad habits to alleviate the back pain that I wasn't able to fully break this year."
Although he has been struggling since the injury, Reynolds has been one of the nation's elite discus throwers for the past eight years and placed third at the U.S. Outdoor Championships in 2003.
"I's been a rough year for me," he said. "I developed some bad habits to alleviate the back pain that I wasn't able to fully break this year."
"For me to have the worst year of my career but still place fifth, I've had a pretty good career," he
Doug Reynolds University of Kansas Assistant track coach
said. "I never made an Olympic team, and that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. But I'm very proud of my career."
He said that his first priority had always been to his athletes, so leaving competition should give him more time to focus on what he enjoyed the most: coaching.
Emsick agrees.
"It was hard for him being both a coach and an athlete," Emsick said. "He needed to choose one or the other, and he made the right decision because coaching is what he wants to do."
However, like all retirees, even those who walk away at the ripe old age of 29, Reynolds can not help but get a little sentimental. He said he saw a lot of himself in Emsick, especially in the way she reacted to the pressure of her first two national championships.
"She does a great job of using her size as motivation to succeed and overcome weakness," Reynolds said. "She has an immeasurable amount of heart and desire to compete and win."
"The parallels are amazing. In my first national championship, I was pretty flustered, and my whole throw was off. In my second, I felt much more calm and composed," he said. "I saw the same thing in Abby. The only thing that was off this go-round was her timing. It's like seeing myself all over again, only as a 5"5" girl."
If there is one thing that Reynolds has and Emsick lacks, it is height. Emsick stands shorter than nearly all of her competitors.
Her quick, explosive throw does not hurt, either. Reynolds said that when he first saw Emsk throw in high school at the Drake Relays in 2001, he assumed "she was going to get killed" by the bigger girls. Then he saw something he had not expected.
"I saw the discus go back, and I saw her throw it, and I didn't see anything in between," he says. "She was so unbelievably fast. Right then and there I said, 'I've got to get that one.'"
For Emsick, who won a record six Drake Relays championships in high school, four in discus and
two in shot put, coming to Kansas was not a tough decision.
"I wanted to be in the Big 12 and go to a school that was within driving distance, but not too close to home," she said. "Coach Reynolds had a plan for building a strong team, and Coach Redwine [KU's head track coach] seemed to be supportive of the throwers. KU just fit."
Since arriving at Kansas in the fall of 2002, Emsick finished second in discus at the Big 12 Championships as a freshman and competed at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that year, in addition to setting the school record.
She redshirted last spring due to health issues, but after feeling well enough to throw at the Trials she is looking forward to next track season.
"I want to improve at both shot put and discus," she said. "I'm looking forward to getting back to school and seeing my teammates again."
With Emsick and the University's other talented throwers to coach and new recruits coming in every year, retiring from competition is not the end of the road for Reynolds. It is the start of a new one. Now that he has the time to focus all of his efforts on his athletes, it is exciting to imagine what the results might be.
Reynolds has already guided three athletes to the Olympic Trials: Emsick and two throwers in his year at Boise State. This year's winner of the discus at the Olympic Trials, Jarred Rome, is one of his former athletes from Boise State.
Reynolds said that he kept a notepad next to his bed when he slept. He often wakes up in the middle of the night with ideas to help his athletes improve. Now that he will not be dreaming about competing as an athlete, that notepad should fill up quickly.
Head Track Coach Stanley Redwine said that Reynolds "simply knows how to prepare his athletes."
"My last day of competition was a bittersweet day for me because one of my former athletes beat me and won the U.S. title," he says. "I told Jarred, 'When athletes I've coached start beating me and taking over at the top, I'll walk away.'"
With such results, Reynolds is respected at Kansas by both his athletes and fellow coaches.
For Emsick, her dreams of glory are just beginning. This year she wants to represent Kansas as an All American and have a good season against Big 12 competition.
And will she be at the 2008 Beijing Olympics? "Yeah," she said laughing nervously. "Hopefully."
Gold sure thing for duo
In one particular Olympic team sport, the United States has an immediate advantage over any other group that steps on the court.
No other team has the decorated history, raw talent and polished expertise as the United States in this sport. The Americans are almost a sure lock to win a gold medal.
And no, I'm not talking about the basketball team.
To see truly dominant American athletes, look no further than the beach volleyball duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May.
The United States has not medaled in the sport since it was introduced at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Walsh and May will almost certainly break the losing streak.
Unfortunately, most conversations I have about the dynamic duo follow the same basic outline:
"Walsh and May are really gonna dominate in Athens."
"Who?"
"You know, the volleyball players in that Visa commercial."
"Oh yeah. They're hot. Span-
dex rules."
Indeed, there was uproar
SPORTS COMMENTARY
BILL CROSS bcross@kansan.com
aimed at ESPN's Page 2 Web site when Walsh was not named one of its 24 hottest female athletes.
But guys, if you choose to tune in, you'll see much more than nice scenery. Unmatched skill and athletic ability will also be on display.
At 6-foot-3, Walsh is one of the most dominant players in the game's history. ESPN rated her one of the top female athletes in the world.
Ray Bechard, Kansas volleyball coach, tutored Walsh while an assistant coach on the 1995 Youth National Volleyball team. He said she had all the tools of a superior athlete.
"She's a good blocker, an attacker. She's a real physical presence," he said.
from her, Bechard said. But she is a dominant spiker.
Challengers at the 28th Olympiad will likely aim for May, who at 5-foot-10 is the runt of the pair. She is also recovering from an abdominal strain that prevented her from competing during the last three months.
Because of her range, Walsh rarely had an opportunity to hit because opponents aimed away
"One reason Walsh has been so successful is that she surrounded herself with a very talented partner," Bechard said. He said he expected the duo to win the gold medal on Aug. 25. Competition started Aug. 14 at the Falliro Coastal Zone Athletic Complex in the Greek capital.
With that kind of dominance, Walsh and May have earned the title of the new American dream team.
Winning would hardly be a new experience for Walsh and May. At one point, the dynamic duo won an unprecedented 90 straight matches and 34 straight tournaments.
And I guarantee this contingent won't lose to Italy.
Cross is a Kansas City, Mo., senior in journalism. He is the Kansas volleyball reporter.
SHOOTING
ATHENS, Greece—Li Du of China won the Summer Games' first gold medal Saturday, setting an Olympic record in the women's 10-meter air rifle.
Li scored 10.6 on her final shot,
surpassing Lioubov Galkina of Russia.
Galkina had led throughout the round, but got only 9.7 on her final shot _ her lowest mark.
Katerina Kurkova from the Czech Republic won the bronze.
Li's overall score of 502 points set an Olympic record. Galkina, who set an Olympic record in the qualifying round, finished at 501.5 points.
Wang Yifu got China's second gold medal, winning the men's 10-meter air pistol on the final shot. Russians Mikhail Nestruev and Vladimir Isakov took the silver and bronze.
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
ATHENS, Greece — The U.S. women's basketball team routed New Zealand in its Olympic opener. Five Americans scored in double figures, turning it on after a slow start.
Favored to win its third straight gold medal, the United States extended its Olympic winning streak to 18. Swin Cash, playing her first game in the Olympics, led with 19 points. Angela Marino led New Zealand with 13 points.
The U.S. team won without starting guard Katie Smith, who was sidelined by a bruised right knee. She hasn't practiced since
the WNBA season ended July 31 and it's uncertain when she'll play.
FIELD HOCKEY
The record for points was held by Japan, which beat Canada 121-89 in 1976. The other 66-point win was the Soviet Union's 119-53 victory over Italy in 1980.
Brazil set the women's Olympic basketball record for points and tied the mark for margin of victory with its 128-62 win over Japan. Alessandra Oliveira had 25 points and 13 rebounds to lead Brazil in its opening game.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Two-time defending gold medalist Australia was upset by Germany 2-1 on the first day of women's field hockey pool play.
Nadine Ernsting Krienke and Silke Mueller scored in the first half for Germany, while Julie Towers scored in the second half for Australia.
Netherlands opened with an easy win over South Africa. Mijntje Donners scored three goals for the Dutch, who are ranked third in the world and are hoping to improve on their bronze medal from Sydney four years ago.
China got goals from Baorong Fu, Chunling Tang and Qunqing
Ageeth Boomgaardt, Fatima Moreira de Melo and Maartje Scheepstra also scored for the Netherlands, while South Africa got both of its goals from Jenny Wilson.
HANDBALL
ATHENS, Greece — Juan Garcia scored six goals, and three other players added four goals each as Spain edged South Korea to open the men's handball competition.
Chen in its shutout of Japan.
Manual Colon, Talant Dujshebaev and Fernando Hernandez scored four goals apiece. South Korea was led by Paek Won-chul and Yoon Kyung-min with six goals each.
Elsewhere, Istvan Pasztor scored nine goals to lead Hungary, and Eduard Kokcharov scored nine for Russia. Olafur Stefansson scored 10 times for Iceland in a losing effort.
JUDO
ATHENS, Greece — Tadahiro Nomura of Japan won the gold medal in men's 60kg judo for the third straight Olympics. Team-mate Ryoko Tani won her second straight gold in the women's 48kg class.
Nomura beat Nestor Khergiani of Georgia. Choi Min-ho of South Korea and Tsagaanbaater Khashbaatar of Mongolia shared the bronze.
Tani defeated France's Fredre-
que Joidinet in a repeat of the
2003 world final where Tani won
her sixth straight world crown.
The 48kg bronze medals went to Julia Matijase of Germany and Feng Gao of China.
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The Associated Press
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