ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, July 25, 1996 TAG: 9607250039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: NOTES
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
Jeff Rouse, on his back a lot, is finally relaxing.
Rouse has swum faster than he did Tuesday night in winning a gold medal in the Atlanta Games at the Georgia Tech Aquatic Center. The Fredericksburg, Va., resident, however, hasn't had as satisfying a 100-meter backstroke previously.
``It was a lot more comfortable experience,'' said Rouse, who set the world-record time of 53.86 seconds to lead off the U.S. gold-medal 400 medley relay in the 1992 Barcelona Games. ``A lot of it is experience, I think.''
The open-air aquatics center built for the Atlanta Games does have a roof, with open sides. Rouse admitted the roof helped him swim a straighter path on his 54.10-second trip. He used the flags hanging above as markers.
The Stanford graduate and U.S. team captain (voted by his teammates) also took comfort in swimming so close to home.
``I've learned a lot over the years in traveling and life, and I'm more at peace with myself,'' he said. ``My family is here, and they've been very supportive. That meant a lot.
``It was always like I swam for somebody else. When you're doing it, you don't always realize they don't always expect you to win. This is something I did for myself. They're going to be happy no matter how I do.''
Rouse, who owns eight of the top 10 times in 100-mater backstroke history, won the silver medal in the event in Barcelona. His medal is one of 17 won by Americans in the first four nights of the Games.
``There should be a lot of critics with their foot in their mouths,'' Rouse said after his victory. ``It's pretty obvious the U.S. is not dead in swimming, and we're going to continue doing well.''
ROTATION: U.S. baseball coach Skip Bertman's decision on his pitching rotation for the rest of the Olympics tournament was rubber-stamped Tuesday when Australia shocked Japan.
It was expected that Bertman would use one of his aces, Kris Benson of Clemson or Virginia's Seth Greisinger, in Sunday's game with Cuba. Even before Japan lost, Bertman had decided otherwise.
He started Tennessee's R.A. Dickey in Wednesday's game with Italy, which the U.S. won 15-3, holding Clemson's Billy Koch ``in case we need him,'' Bertman said. Benson is scheduled for his second Olympic start tonight against Japan, with Greisinger facing the Aussies on Saturday.
Koch, although the No.4 pick overall pick by Toronto in last month's baseball draft, is considered Team USA's fourth starter. He will go against Cuba, Bertman said, because ``the game might not make any difference, if we're 5-0.'' Then Dickey would go against The Netherlands on Tuesday, leaving Benson and Greisinger for the medal-round games on Aug.1-2, respectively.
The U.S.-Cuba game, about as political an event as these Olympics are expecting because of the recent defections to U.S. pro baseball by Fidel Castro's islanders, became even less crucial with the Japan loss. Barring other major upsets, it appears Cuba and the U.S. will not be able to meet in the first game of the medal round (semifinals) next week.
ALL OVER: The First Teenager, Chelsea Clinton, continued her Games-hopping Wednesday morning by taking in a 4-0 loss by the U.S. men's field hockey team to India. One day earlier, she was at the beach volleyball venue, dancing to the rock 'n' roll music played between matches.
Clinton arrived at the Morris Brown stadium for field hockey in a limousine trailed by five Georgia State Police cars.
The security also included three or four Secret Service agents and two dogs the size of small racehorses who expertly sniffed their way through a portion of the stadium. Who knows what they might have thought of Socks the Cat.
However, Chelsea's protection pales to that of the Princess of Brunei, who also is attending the Games. She has 14 bodyguards.
BAD NEWS: On the third floor of the Inforum building, which has become the Main Press Center for the Atlanta Games, a foreign newspaper stand finds the same translation of many descriptions of the XXVIth Olympiad.
Computer problems with the IBM-designed Info '96 and horrendous transportation snafus have brought the Atlanta Games down in the eyes of most journalists.
A British paper said the Games were ``a shambles.'' In Hebrew, it was ``a big mess.'' In Canada, they read ``disgrace.'' In France, the Games were labeled ``incredibly mediocre.''
And they weren't even referring to the blue mascot, Izzy.
Closer to home, Mike Downey of the Los Angeles Times wrote: ``This is my eighth Olympic Games, and the eighth-best organized. Sarajevo, Seoul, Barcelona ... All models of efficiency compared to this, what some of us have taken to calling the Lost Continent of Atlanta.''
WHERE'S IZZY?: Speaking of the morph mascot, he hasn't been seen walking the streets or at any venues since the Games began. There's a rumor making the rounds that ACOG has become embarrassed by the criticism of the smurf with big eyes, so maybe they've put the costume in storage.
Or, he could have flunked a drug test. Whatever, at least one familiar Atlanta mascot has been seen. The man who for years portrayed the Braves politically incorrect mascot, Chief Noc-A-Home, has been riding MARTA trains and greeting visitors.
GUN CONTROL: ACOG officials still have no explanation how a Colorado man armed with a gun and a knife got into Friday night's Opening Ceremonies, where president Bill Clinton and his family were present.
Rolland Atkins, 51, was arrested 90 minutes before the ceremonies began and charged with three misdemeanors. He has been released on $17,000 bail, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday morning.
At a news conference Tuesday, ACOG security director Bill Rathburn said, ``Clearly, security did not work as well as it should have worked.''
Atkins was wearing a uniform similar to the security personnel at the new Olympic stadium. Rathburn said Atkins could have gotten in using his uniform. The man was carrying a .45-caliber handgun loaded with 11 rounds.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Gold medalist Jeff Rouse acknowledges the crowdby CNBduring the medal ceremony for the 100-meter backstroke.|