ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607300059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: CHRISTOPHER CLAREY NEW YORK TIMES
DOMINIQUE DAWES looks to recapture the magic that gave the U.S. women the team title in gymnastics.
Dominique Dawes has removed the motivational epigrams that once decorated her room. No longer will her eyes be drawn to statements like, ``I wake up with a burst of energy and optimism.''
The epigrams were her the idea of her psychologist, Carolyn Silby, and they were part of an effort to help Dawes conquer her demons and perform at her best in a major, all-around gymnastics competition.
Dawes copied the phrases from books and affixed them to lamps, walls and mirrors in her room in Knoxville, Tenn., during the national championships. She did the same in Boston at the U.S. Olympic trials. But the demons resurfaced at approximately 6 p.m. Thursday at the Georgia Dome, and, by Friday afternoon, the sanguine messages were gone.
``Nothing left,'' she said. ``I just took them down.''
Dawes, like every member of the American women's gymnastics team, has her gold medal. She played a major role in winning it Tuesday, contributing more points to the final American total than anyone except Shannon Miller.
``I don't think the all-around competition mattered more than team, but it was just as high as team,'' said Kelli Hill, who has coached Dawes since she burst into her gym and her life in Gaithersburg, Md., at age 6. ``She knew this was her shot. She hung in for four years to go after it. It was a heartbreak.''
The major break that caused that heartbreak came on the floor exercise, the apparatus that once defined Dawes. She is one of the world's most aggressive and spectacular tumblers. Her hallmark move used to be an opening tumbling run that took her from one corner of the mat to the opposite corner and back again. It was the gymnastics equivalent of pouring it on, but Dawes no longer opens with that up-and-back pass. And her newest floor routine has failed her repeatedly this year.
In April, at the world championships for individual apparatus in Puerto Rico, she stepped out of bounds on her second tumbling run and failed to advance past the preliminary round. During Thursday's all-around, she was leading all competitors after two rotations.
``I knew I was up,'' she said. ``I was just trying to clear my mind of that, but it was really hard when you are walking around the arena and everybody is cheering for you.''
As Dawes warmed up for her routine one final time, Hill noticed she looked ``a little panicked'' on that crucial second tumbling run and, sure enough, once the music started, Dawes felt herself sailing out of bounds again. She tried to slam on the breaks and came out of her front somersault earlier than usual. But in trying to avert a minor deduction, she would end up paying a major price. Not only would she still step out of bounds. She would fall backward, and out of contention. The gymnast who had performed so precisely in the team competition was left sobbing on the bench as her score of 9.0 flashed on the scoreboard.
Nothing - not meeting the president after the competition, not listening to Hill's supportive words, not thinking of the gold she already had won - would provide much consolation for her 17th-place finish.
``She has been very emotional,'' Hill said. ``The team gold made history. I don't think any of the girls realize at this time what it really means to our sport. I think they'll realize that more as time goes on. But I don't know if that will ever really cushion the blow of Thursday night for Dom. Talking to her, I said, `Dom, there's nothing you can do about it. It's going to hurt now and 30 years from now. That's just the way it is, and it's over with and we have to go on.'''
The Olympic all-around title is gone, but Dawes will have at least two - and probably three - more chances at an individual Olympic medal. Gymnastics competition resumes tonight with women's event finals on uneven bars and vault and three men's event finals. Competition concludes Monday night with the women's floor exercise and balance beam finals and the three other men's events.
Dawes has qualified on uneven bars and vault. And if, as expected, teammate Kerri Strug is unable to compete because of her sprained left ankle, Dawes will take Strug's place in the floor exercise.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Dominique Dawes (second from left) celebrates theby CNBOlympic team gold medal with the rest of the U.S. squad on Tuesday.
Dawes is back in action today in individual event competition.|