The pain in Spain may come earlier than expected for two U.S. boxers who did not have the luck of the draw Saturday.
Cincinnati`s Larry Donald and Chicago`s Danell Nicholson will have a tougher road to find gold in Barcelona than the remaining 10 boxers who are expected to be among this country`s best since the 1976 Olympics.
Donald, a super-heavyweight, will be matched against Nikolai Koulpine of the Unified Team in the first round. Although Donald defeated Koulpine in a 1991 dual meet, he faces two consecutive tough challenges if he punches past Koulpine. Cuba`s Roberto Balado would be Donald`s next opponent.
Nicholson likely will face Cuba`s Felix Savon, a world champion in the 201-pound division, in the quarterfinals should both fighters advance to that point as expected.
Nicholson, 24, has been fighting for only one year after shifting his athletic focus from basketball to boxing. Donald, a former shoe salesman, is considered a prime contender for a medal.
Donald missed workouts earlier in the week after scratching the cornea in his left eye. He was thumbed while sparring Monday, but passed his physical exam Saturday.
”There is a lot of pressure on me because I am favored to win the gold medal,” Donald said. ”But I won`t feel any pressure as far as my ability and skill goes. There`s more pressure on everybody else to beat me.”
The remaining fighters are expected to have an easier route through their divisions in the competition beginning Sunday. Eric Griffin, a gold-medal favorite at 106 pounds, meets Fausto Mercedes from the Dominican Republic and Pepe Reilly, in the 147-pound class, meets Victor Baude of Spain.
”This is the draw I hoped for but didn`t think we would get,” said U.S. coach Joe Byrd.
Griffin, Oscar De La Hoya (132 pounds), Tim Austin (112), Raul Marquez
(156) and Donald head a group expected to challenge the record of the team that won five golds in 1976. That was also the last time the U.S. and Cuba competed in the same Olympics.
The Cubans are back in Barcelona and, as usual, could seriously upset the U.S. team`s march toward gold.
”They are loaded,” said Jay Miller of USA Boxing. ”They`re all thin for their frames, very tall with a long reach. They are powerful punchers.”
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Snow forecast: U.S. soccer coach Lothar Osiander said Saturday a decision on whether Steve Snow plays Monday against Kuwait would depend more on the team`s tactics than the player`s behavior.
Snow, the U.S. Olympic soccer team`s leading scorer, blasted Osiander after the coach kept him on the bench during Friday`s 2-1 loss to Italy in the opening game of the Olympic tournament.
Osiander said he did not start Snow because the forward lacked the speed and defensive ability to play the defense-and-counterattack style the coach wanted against Italy. Osiander said Snow swore at him when he told the player of that decision two days before the game.
After the game, Osiander said Snow would need to apologize to him and the team if he wanted to play in the team`s remaining two first-round games. But there was no mention of an apology in a statement Osiander made Saturday.
”The Italy game is behind us,” Osiander said. ”We`ll see how we line up against Kuwait, and that will determine if and how much Steve plays. That is what being part of a team is all about.
”Obviously, we need a win. We will use the tactical plan it takes to get one.”
Of Snow`s suggestions that Osiander doesn`t like him, the coach said, ”I have no problem with Steve. Steve has a problem with Steve.”
The U.S. likely needs at least a victory and a tie in its first-round games to be assured of making the quarterfinals. It would have a chance to advance with just one win, depending on the other results in the four-team round-robin.
Courting success: The bus hadn`t arrived to take them to their practice by 8:30 a.m. Saturday. That was a half-hour late. So the U.S. baseball players slung the equipment on their shoulders and began walking.
No one knew where. It was an hour`s bus ride to the baseball stadium. But they walked out of the Olympic Village, walked down the street, walked for nearly two miles before a suitable practice site was found.
It was an outdoor basketball court of concrete.
”It was either that or the beach,” said Jeff Alkire, the former University of Miami pitcher, who is the starter in the U.S. team`s opener Sunday against Spain. ”That would`ve been something. Practicing on a beach.” As it was, some players wore sandals, and they took batting practice with Wiffle balls before walking back home.
Alkire didn`t mind. And he isn`t approaching Sunday`s game like it`s the biggest of his career. ”The gold-medal game would be,” he said.
He was a fifth-round draft pick of the St. Louis Cardinals but hasn`t signed, just like his batterymate at both Miami and the Olympics, catcher Charles Johnson.
Johnson, the Florida Marlins` first draft pick, said nothing is new on his contract and that he doesn`t expect anything to happen until after the Olympics.
”I`m just focusing on this right now,” he said.
Cuba is the decided gold-medal favorite, but Alkire doesn`t discount his team`s chances.
”It would be an upset if we won,” he said. ”But we played them in our preparation for the Olympics, and we know we can beat them.”
The Americans play Cuba Thursday, the last of four consecutive days of games against Spain, Taiwan and Italy. The gold-medal game is Aug. 5.
Alkire will pitch again Saturday against Puerto Rico. Possibly among those cheering for him will be his uncle, Ed Baird of St. Petersburg, Fla., who is coaching the U.S. Soling team in yachting.
For now, though, Alkire said he wouldn`t mind the buses running on time.
”We weren`t happy this morning,” Alkire said. ”We were at practice until midnight last night, and then to get up early and have to walk to a practice on a basketball court wasn`t too much fun.”
Weight off his shoulders: The first time Roberto ”Tony” Urrutia made an Olympic weightlifting team, the year was 1976, he was a high school senior in Havana and he placed sixth in the lightweight (148-pound) class.
Now 16 years later, Urrutia feels like a high school senior again. He lives in Hollywood, Fla., and is participating in his third Olympics-second for the United States-in the light-heavyweight class (181 pounds).
Tuning up for Olympic competition that begins Sunday with flyweights (114 pounds), Urrutia reflected on the last 16 years. ”What`s the biggest difference between the `76 Olympics and the `92 Olympics?” he was asked.
”One big difference,” Urrutia said. ”I`m living in a free country. That`s big.”
Big enough, he says, possibly to keep him participating for another 10 years. At 34, Urrutia says he is in better shape than ever before, has a good job with a grocery-store chain and is affiliated with the U.S. Olympic job opportunities program that allows him to work and to train.
”He has twice been able to get to Colorado Springs for training, and it has shown in his results,” said Mary Anne Rinehart of U.S. weightlifting.
Mail call: More than 25,000 post cards just arrived from the United States and are being sorted by the U.S. Postal Service as part of their Summer Games promotion in which the public was encouraged to visit their local post offices, sign a giant-sized card as well as purchase two cards for $1 with a significant portion of the proceeds going to the U.S. Olympic Team. At a special ceremony in Washington, USPS turned over more than $500,000 to the U.S. Olympic team.
Whale of a job: When Californian Chris Barlow is not kayaking, he works at what he describes as a ”killer job.” He answered a newspaper ad for person with a strong swimming background and an interest in animal behavior. He got the job training killer whales at Sea World of San Diego.
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What a nightmare: No matter what happens Sunday, when Wendy Bruce begins America`s ”Great Expectations” in women`s gymnastics competition, what didn`t happen Friday always will stick in her memory.
Friday, the ”Dream Team” came to the Olympic Village, and the U.S. women`s gymnastics team was the only one invited to get on the bus to meet Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Co., to exchange autographs and take pictures.
That is, everybody but Bruce.
”I was taking a bath following therapy and didn`t know until it was too late,” she said. ”I was so mad. I mean the basketball team let them on the bus and gave them their pins that everybody was coveting. You can mark it down. That is my biggest Olympic disappointment.
”One of the girls told me they said they were just as much in awe of us as we were of them. I said if that were true, Michael Jordan could have come up to my room.”
One dream team may have passed Bruce by, but Bruce`s dream is ready to unfold Sunday in women`s compulsory competition. As expected, Bruce was one of the six gymnasts named to participate, and she will be America`s` leadoff competitor, performing in compulsory balance beam in the second session.
”All the pressure is off me now,” Bruce said Saturday. ”I can just focus on me and on being very aggressive.”