Karolyi

HOUSTON - Gymnast Elise Ray keeps a curious calendar. April 20-25: Spend Easter in New Zealand. Win the all-around at an international competition. May 5: Senior prom at the Inner Harbor. Today: Travel to Texas for a training session at Bela Karolyi's camp. Ray will graduate from WildeLake High next month, but she is not your typical "Junebug." The 18-year-old is attempting to win a berth on the U.S. Olympic women's team that will compete in Australia in September, and the intensity will only increase between now and the Olympic trials, which is Aug.15-20 in Boston.

ATLANTA -- "I can't feel my leg," Kerri Strug told her coach."Shake it out, shake it out," Bela Karolyi replied. "You've got to go one more."Emmitt Smith plays with a separated shoulder. Brady Anderson plays with appendicitis. And, yesterday, Kerri Strug vaulted with an ankle injury that would leave her with a severe sprain and two torn ligaments.What was at stake?Only everything Strug had worked for.Only a gold medal in women's team gymnastics.Only a United States first in the Olympics."Please, God, help me out here," Strug said.

INDIANAPOLIS -- In gymnastics, grace is usually cast aside at mat's edge. So was it really a surprise yesterday that an athletic Cold War was reborn inside the Hoosier Dome?Is it a shock that two tiny gymnasts, one from the Soviet Union and the other from the United States, refused to shake hands? And really, did anyone expect U.S. coach Bela Karolyi to ignore the opportunity to unload a few verbal shots at his longtime rivals?"Politics, it's always politics," Karolyi said.After nine days of beauty and triumph, the World Gymnastics Championships ended with an ugly little encounter on a medal stand.

INDIANAPOLIS -- One comes right out of the Romper Room that is women's gymnastics. The other is an elegant ballerina who can flip over the vault.Last night, 15-year-old Kim Zmeskal of the United States and 18-year-old Svetlana Boguinskaia of the Soviet Union staged a tumbling contest filled with style and substance. Zmeskal used her speed and power. Boguinskaia countered with grit and grace. When it ended, women's gymnastics had a new all-around champion.Zmeskal, a 4-foot-7, 80-pound dynamo from Houston, scored 39.848 out of 40 points to claim the gold medal in the all-around at the World Championships.

Her back may be broken, but Betty Okino's Olympic dream isn't yet shattered.The woman considered the second-best gymnast in the United States is unlikely to compete at the Olympic trials, Saturday through June 13 at the Baltimore Arena. Yet with a resume that includes three world championship medals, Okino may receive a reprieve -- and a ticket to the team's final training session before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.Confused? Don't be. In a subjectively judged sport, in which the goal is to put together the best team possible, Okino still could receive a spot on the six-woman team.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The youngest is 13 years old. The oldest is 16. They not only are the future of women's gymnastics in the United States, but they also are the present.Last night, under the bright lights and the big top at the Hoosier Dome, the U.S. women put a silver stamp on the 1991 World Championships.Using Kim Zmeskal's perfect 10 on the final vault, the U.S. women tumbled and leaped their way to a first-ever team medal, finishing with 394.116 points and the silver behind the Soviet Union (396.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tiny, taut girls and miniature, muscular men will fly through the air here this weekend -- hoping to land in Baltimore.The 1992 Phar-Mor U.S. Gymnastics Championships, first step in selecting the U.S. team for the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, begin tonight at Ohio State.The top 12 women and the top 18 men after competition ends Sunday will compete June 6-13 at the Olympic trials in Baltimore for the 14 spots -- seven men and seven women -- on the U.S. Olympic squad.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Tiny, taut girls and miniature, muscular men will fly through the air here this weekend -- hoping to land in Baltimore.The 1992 Phar-Mor U.S. Gymnastics Championships, first step in selecting the U.S. team for the Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, begin tonight at Ohio State.The top 12 women and the top 18 men after competition ends Sunday will compete June 6-13 at the Olympic trials in Baltimore for the 14 spots -- seven men and seven women -- on the U.S. Olympic squad.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A smile broke through the glower on Bela Karolyi's face.The mountain of a man who pushes those tiny dolls to greatness held his head in mock amazement and then thrust his big paws skyward.And then he used them to hug tiny, size-1 Kim Zmeskal.The little girl who had disappointed him so with a second-place finish in the compulsory round had just scored a 10 in the vault during the optionals last night.It was her first event en route to a third straight U.S. Gymnastics all-around championship -- and almost certainly an Olympic gold medal in Barcelona, Spain.

So that she could soar in Sydney, Elise Ray spent a couple of days of down time at her home in Columbia. The women take center stage tonight at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in St. Louis, the first of two competitions that will be weighed in the selection of the American Olympic team. As the highest U.S. finisher in the all-around at last year's world championships, Ray walks in with strong status and none of the weakness that caused one of her knees to wobble in early June. "Training has gone really well," she said during a telephone interview Tuesday night before a walk-through at the Kiel Center.