1992 Summer Olympics

INDIANAPOLIS -- U.S. Olympic Committee president Robert Helmick said yesterday that he has bowed out as a candidate for re-election when his term expires next year because of the controversy surrounding his business dealings."

South Africa close to return to OlympicsSouth Africa moved another step closer to regaining international acceptance in sports after more than three decades on the sidelines yesterday, when the International Olympic Committee's executive board conditionally recognized the country's interim, desegregated Olympic committee.Judge Keba Mbaye, an IOC vice president from Senegal, expressed optimism that South Africa will meet conditions required to receive full recognition as the IOC's 168th member by July, enabling it to send athletes to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and perhaps the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, France.

BaseballCalifornia Angels -- Signed P John Farrell (didn't pitch last season because of elbow injury) to a minor-league contract.Chicago White Sox -- Agreed to a one-year contract with C Ron Karkovice (.246, 5 HRs, 22 RBI) for $500,000. He had asked for $725,000 in arbitration; the club offered $400,000.Colorado Rockies -- Named Paul Zuvella manager of the rookie Arizona League team.Houston Astros -- Agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract with 3B Ken Caminiti (.253, 13 HRs, 80 RBI).Montreal Expos -- Invited C Rick Cerone (.273, 2 HRs, 16 RBI for the New York Mets)

BARCELONA, Spain -- Steve Nunno opened a tiny gym in Oklahoma City seven years ago, with 11 students, second-hand equipment and the goal of creating an Olympic champion.Last night, his dream almost came true. When Shannon Miller of the United States won the silver medal in the women's all-around final at the 1992 Summer Olympics, she didn't just gather fame for herself, she helped elevate a coach to the top of American gymnastics.Nunno became the first American-born coach of the top American-born performer since Bela Karolyi began creating tiny titlists in his Houston gymnasium.

HAVANA -- Now that the opening ceremonies are over and the culture shock of negotiating a path through a socialist state is softened, the story line for the next 16 days of the 11th Pan American Games is the struggle of one Goliath against 38 Davids.As usual, the 31-sport competition pits the rich athletic giant, the United States, against 38 poorer, smaller, yet still proud nations of the Western Hemisphere. The games will receive an immediate sporting jolt this morning with the running of a men's and women's marathon and the first U.S.-Cuban contest in a men's basketball game.

Ohio State's Cooper defends UzelacOhio State football coach John Cooper defended offensive coordinator Elliot Uzelac against charges that he told tailback Robert Smith to skip academic classes.Smith, who rushed for 1,126 yards, the 16th-highest regular-season rushing total by a freshman in NCAA history in 1990, quit the team Friday.In a story in The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer on Monday, Smith said he was ordered to miss academic classes so he could attend football practices and meetings."Coach Uzelac directly told me that I took my classes too seriously," Smith was quoted by the newspaper.

Jair Lynch pulled the Penn State cap over his head and pumped up the volume on his Walkman, concentrating hard now on Gang Starr singing "Take it Personal."Around him, the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Trials were unfolding like a three-ringed circus at the Baltimore Arena last night. Old-timers were dropping from sight. Old reliables were soaring.Lynch had just blown his routine on the horizontal bar, turning a handstand into the gymnastics equivalent of a timeout, and suddenly, he was a bobble away from tossing away a trip to Barcelona, Spain.

BARCELONA, Spain -- We are waiting for Naim Suleymanoglu.He is somewhere in the locker room. Pacing. Inhaling smelling salts. Letting the equivalent of weightlifting comics warm up the room.One by one, the thickly muscled men wobble under the weight of hundreds of pounds wrapped in plastic discs around a steel bar. The crowd stirs. Twenty minutes pass. Twenty-five. Thirty.We are waiting for Suleymanoglu.Finally, the announcer calls out, "Naim Suleymanoglu, please get ready. You'll be next."

The United States women's volleyball team was tanned, rested and ready after spending the winter months training in San Diego.The Chinese were exhausted, scrambling for rest in the midst of a tour on which they hop-scotch from Beijing to Moscow to Havana to Baltimore.The U.S. team was eager to unleash its devastating powegame. The Chinese were forced to counter the attack with junk and guile. For one night, at least, power overwhelmed junk.The U.S. team defeated China, 3-1 (10-15, 15-13, 15-10, 15-9)

Towson High School's Anita Nall seems to be on a collision course with world records.During the past three days in Edmonton, Alberta, she has visited the world's largest mall and has ridden on the world's largest indoor roller coaster.This weekend in the Pan Pacific Games in Edmonton, Nall hopes to have another close encounter with a world record when she swims the 200-meter and 100-meter breast strokes.Nall, 15, came within .37 of a second of the world record in the women's 200-meter breast stroke last April when she shattered the American record with a time of 2 minutes, 27.08 seconds in the Phillips 66/U.