ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tears of despair replaced the exuberant grins of America's gymnasts Thursday night. The tears of Lilia Podkopayeva were a sign of joy.
Podkopayeva's stunning floor routine gave her a 9.887 - the highest score of the Olympics - and the all-around gold. It was on that same floor that Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes tearily watched their medal hopes die.
Two days after helping the United States to the team gold, Miller finished eighth, Dominique Moceanu, who replaced Tuesday night's star, Kerri Strug, was ninth and Dawes finished in a tie for 17th with Monica Martin of Spain. Not even a visit afterward with President Clinton could console them.
``I tried my hardest tonight,'' Miller said, breaking down as she spoke. ``We won the gold and were so excited, we lost focus. It's hard.''
It was a sweet night for Podkopayeva, who came into the final round tied for first with China's Mo Huilan. Podkopayeva got the crowd clapping as she tumbled and twirled to an Irish jig.
As her score flashed, the reigning world champion closed her eyes and clasped her hands together as if in prayer. Mo was the last to go, and when she stepped out of bounds on her floor routine, Podkopayeva burst into tears.
Gina Gogean of Romania won the silver, and the bronze was shared by her teammates, Simona Amanar and Lavinia Milosovici. Milosovici also won the bronze in Barcelona. Mo finished fifth.
Early on, it looked as if the Americans were going to add to their medal collection. Dawes was in first place after the first two events, and Miller was tied for second with Russia's Dina Kochetkova as they both went to the floor exercise.
But one slip and one misplaced foot ended all hope of a medal.
Dawes got off-center on a high-soaring tumbling pass, and under-rotated a front somersault. Her feet slipped out from underneath and went skidding out of bounds, and she had to plant both hands on the floor to keep from falling.
Miller ran into problems minutes earlier. After blowing her first tumbling pass with a big hop forward as she landed, she finished in disaster.
She came out of a backward somersault with her left foot planted firmly - and slightly out of bounds. The judge who was just inches away from her didn't raise a flag, but a few seconds later, the judge sitting directly across the floor did.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Lilia Podkopayeva of the Ukraine kisses her goldby CNBmedal after the all-around. color