ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 29, 1996 TAG: 9607290095
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
The gold medalist in the women's marathon at the Atlanta Games found inspiration in one of the most famous marathoners in history.
Fatuma Roba cruised to victory Sunday morning by an even two minutes, and after completing the 26 miles, 385 yards of mostly Atlanta streets brought up the name of a fellow Ethiopian.
"One of the most famous Ethiopian athletes was a marathon runner, Abebe Bikila, and I learned about him when I was at school,'' said Roba. "That was the biggest influence on my running.
"This is the first time at an Olympic Games, and I haven't seen one on TV before. I had been running the 10,000 meters, and based on experience, I decided to start marathons in 1993. I have run four altogether.''
She finished 11th in her first one and won the other three. The favorite in the race, Uta Pippig of Germany, was passed by the pack at the 59-minute mark and did not finish. Defending gold medalist Valentina Yegorova of Russia took the silver, but could have used binoculars to see Roba.
Roba's winning time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 5 seconds was a personal best.
Roba said she hails from the same village, Cokelj, as 1992 Olympic 10,000 women's champ Derartu Tulu, but has since moved to Addis Ababa, where she is an officer in a prison police force.
"I have been running 25 to 35 kilometers a day to prepare for this,'' Roba said.
MARY MERRY: One of the best comebacks at these Games was by U.S. diver Mary Ellen Clark.
Clark's comeback from recurring bouts of vertigo has been well-chronicled, as has her father's battle with cancer. She was a story for another reason at the Georgia Tech Aquatics Center.
Clark repeated her bronze-medal performance in platform diving from the Barcelona Games, despite entering Saturday's semifinals in 12th place and the finals in 10th place. She was still sixth with two dives left, then left few ripples in the water.
"The feeling is absolutely awesome,'' said the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident. "After 1992, I had two good years in '93 and '94, then I was out nine months with vertigo. It was very frustrating.
"You can look at your challenges in two ways. You can rise above them and look at them positively, or you can go the other direction and say, "Why me?'''
Clark, 33, became the oldest U.S. diving medalist in Olympic history. She surpassed the legendary Sammy Lee, who won his second Olympic platform gold in 1952, when he was 32.
SHRUBBERY: The football that moved into Georgia's venerable Sanford Stadium wasn't the kind Bulldogs are accustomed to watching, but that wasn't the only difference they saw.
To accommodate the regulation soccer field dimensions for the Atlanta Games, the school had to tear out the legendary hedges that have surrounded the football field since 1929.
After Saturday's gold medal men's finale, new hedges will be planted and surround the field for Georgia's Aug.31 opener. The new shrubs have been growing at a nursery in Thomson. And they are descendents, beginning from cuttings from the old shrubs.
TITLE IX: In women's college basketball in the U.S., one recurring topic is the large number of men who coach women's teams.
Apparently, equality comes to other nations even slower. In the 12-team women's basketball competition at the Atlanta Games, the only female head coach is Stanford's Tara VanDerveer of the U.S.
WHIRLPOOL: Maybe it was a motivational tactic, but USA Swimming didn't come close on its projections for medals in the Atlanta Games.
In the swimming competition concluded Friday, the U.S. was tops among nations - as usual - with 26 medals. The 13 gold, 11 silver and two bronze far exceeded pre-Olympics predictions by the national federation based on integrated times from the final 1994-95 world rankings.
Of course, the relatively poor performance of the Chinese women - fueling rumors that team was scared by sophisticated drug testing - boosted the U.S. hopes. China won six medals, one gold.
U.S. women, predicted for no golds, had seven, including four by Amy Van Dyken, the most golds for any U.S. woman in any sport in any Olympics.
USA Swimming had predicted 21 medals overall for the U.S., and only four golds, all by men. The 26-medal performance is consistent with what the U.S. has done in recent Olympics.
"The underdog has a vicious bite,'' Van Dyken said. "Being the underdog did help us,'' U.S. coach Richard Quick said.
The U.S. had 34 medals in the Montreal and Los Angeles Games, dropped to 18 in Seoul and had 27 in Barcelona. The U.S. record is an astounding 52 medals in Mexico City. The U.S. won 43 in Munich, best known as the ``Mark Spitz Games,'' when he won seven medals, all golds.
FOR SALE: In Sunday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, columnist Colin Campbell told of an Olympic gold medal for sale. A memorabilia sales booth passed out fliers on items available, and listed, without fanfare, on the sheet was ``1984 Olympic gold medal.''
The booth is seeking $4,500 minimum for the medal. Through research, the paper learned it was a Greco-Roman wrestling gold in the 100 kilogram class.
It was won by Romania's Vasile Andrei. The paper couldn't reach the former wrestler, but surmised Andrei perhaps needed the cash during Romania's political upheaval in the '80s.
BIG GAME: If the U.S. men want to have any chance at a medal in indoor volleyball, they need a victory tonight over Bulgaria. Both teams are 2-2.
A victory would put the Americans second in their pool, meaning they wouldn't have to meet pre-Games picks Italy and The Netherlands, who are in first and second place in the opposite pool.
A DREAM: When the Olympic archery competition began Sunday, Paola Fantato of Italy had reached one goal even before firing an arrow.
Fantato, who has been shooting for 12 years, competes from a wheelchair. After several years in the Paralympics - which will be held in this Olympic city next month - she made her Olympic debut.
``I knew when I first decided to try for our Olympic team it would be difficult but not impossible,'' said Fantato, who contracted polio when she was 8. ``I am happy to be here, but my goals are more for my team than myself.''
Fantato, 36, is from Verona and is ranked 30th in the world. She can walk, with some difficulty, but needs the stability of her chair to hold her bow steady enough to compete.
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Italy's Paola Fantato takes aim during the women'sby CNBOlympic archery competition on Sunday. Fantato, who was struck with
polio when she was 8, ended the day ranked 33rd.