ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 31, 1996 TAG: 9607310041
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: NOTES
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
The Black Churches Association might as well add $165,000 to its checking account.
Eleven of the 12 members of the U.S. men's Dream Team have said they will donate the $15,000 each U.S. gold-medal winner receives to the Black Churches Association in hopes of helping to rebuild some of the churches burned in recent months.
If the Dream Team isn't a lock for gold, which team is? The other Dream Teamer, Nigeria native Hakeem Olajuwon, has designated the Islamic Society of Greater Houston as the recipient of his stipend.
The USOC's ``Operation Gold Grant'' pays every athlete $15,000 for a gold medal, $12,500 for silver, $10,000 for bronze and $7,500 for a fourth-place finish.
MOURNING: The death of Turkish TV cameraman Melih Uzunyol after the bomb blast Saturday in Centennial Olympic Park hasn't dimmed Turkey's desire to hold the 2004 Games in Istanbul.
Uzunyol died of a heart attack while running to videotape the aftermath of the terrorist act. A memorial service was held Monday at Turkish Olympic headquarters.
The director of the Istanbul Olympic bid, Yalcin Aksoy, said that his country's mourning for the late journalist is combined with a fervor to battle the kind of incident that jolted Atlanta.
``You can't stop a madman,'' Aksoy said, ``no matter what you do.''
NO. 21: Virginia right-hander Seth Greisinger will try to give himself a belated birthday gift Friday night. If the U.S. plays Cuba for the baseball gold medal, coach Skip Bertman has confirmed Greisinger will start on the mound.
Greisinger celebrated his 21st birthday Monday.
BEEN THERE: The anticipation about track star Michael Johnson going for the sprint double gold in the 200 following his 400 victory Monday? It's been done before.
Valerie Briscoe-Hooks of the U.S. won both events at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Johnson would be the first male to double in those events, if he wins Thursday night.
MORE SEATS: Although most of the glamour sports were sold out before the Games, ticket sales remain brisk. The Games passed the 300,000 mark for tickets sold in the 11 days since they began.
The Atlanta Games, the most-watched in person in history, are approaching 8.6 million in tickets sold.
Soccer has sold more than 1 million. The 64,196 who watched the U.S.-Norway match Sunday night in Athens was an American record for a women's game, and just missed the world record number who watched the same teams at the women's World Cup last year in Sweden.
HIGH PRICE: Now that most Olympic events are getting down to medal events, it's apparently become a scalpers' paradise.
Outside the U.S.-Cuba baseball game Sunday at Atlanta Fulton County Stadium, a box seat with a face value of $16 was being offered for $200. Dream Team tickets, also at a face value of $16, have been going for $100.
Then, there's badminton at the Georgia World Congress Center. A man outside the venue Monday wanted $70 for a $27 ticket. He eventually got $40.
TOUGH: Michael Gostigan of the U.S. finished 16th in the modern pentathlon competition on Tuesday, but just thinking about the workout regimen of the two-time Olympian is a wearying experience.
In a typical week, Gostigan swims at least three times, runs six times, shoots four times, fences three to five times and rides three times.
The Texan's day begins at 7 a.m. on his running course. From 10-11:30, he swims, then he fences from 2-4 p.m. There's also some weightlifting among his five pentathlon disciplines.
Gostigan estimates that he has spent 8,440 hours, or just short of an entire year, preparing just for the swimming portion of his competition.
AVAILABLE: Are you interested in a piece of cycling history? The Atlanta Games is selling the portable Stone Mountain Velodrome after the Olympics. It's the first portable wooden track in the country.
The track will go for at least $450,000, and the Games would like the track to stay in the United States, if possible, as a memorial to late coach Mike Whalen.
The only cities that appear interested are Augusta, Ga., New York, San Diego, Detroit and Tucson, Ariz. Cape Town, South Africa, which hopes to host the 2004 Summer Games, also has expressed an interest.
WE'RE HERE: The athletes aren't the largest contingent at the Atlanta Games.
There are 10,700 athletes here, an Olympic record. There are 15,000 journalists, print and broadcast, at these Games, an Olympic record.
That is not what ``power of the press'' means, however.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Visitors pay their respects Tuesday at theby CNBCentennial Olympic Park, where a Turkish flag honors cameraman Melih
Uzunyol. He died of a heart attack rushing to cover Saturday's
bombing.