THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 31, 1995 TAG: 9507310123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: DENVER LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
What is likely to be the last U.S. Olympic Festival - at least in its current format - wrapped up Sunday with two Hampton Roads athletes bringing home gold medals.
Tonya Williams won the women's 400-meter hurdles and Alexis Brion captured first in the gymnastics floor exercise to represent the area.
In the final gymnastics event, Virginia Beach's Brion, 12, won with a 9.85 - the same mark she received to pace the floor exercise Friday night.
Williams, from Norfolk, raced to a time of 56.68, edging out Sandra Glover from Palestine, Texas.
The final day of competition featured 10 sports, highlighted by women's gymnastics and track and field. A brief closing ceremony was scheduled Sunday night at a local amusement park.
All-around champion Kerri Strug of Tucson, Ariz., added two more gymnastics medals Sunday. Strug won the gold on the uneven bars with a 9.873, and won the bronze on the balance beam with 9.275.
Other gold medal winners besides Brion and Strug in the individual competition were all-around silver medalist Heather Brink of Lincoln, Neb., on the vault (9.862) and Melinda Baimbridge of Webster, Texas, on the balance beam (9.60).
Brink wound up the top medal winner, with four. Along with her gold on the vault and her silver in the all-around, she won a bronze on the uneven bars and a silver in the team competition.
The women's record for gymnastics medals at a single festival is five, shared by five people. Brink had a chance to make history with two events remaining, but fell off the balance beam and made a mistake during the floor exercise.
Strug, who sprained her right ankle during practice Thursday, qualified for all four individual event finals but elected to compete in only two - the uneven bars and the balance beam.
``I chose to do two events that wouldn't put too much stress on my ankle,'' she said.
In track, decathlete Dave Johnson won the bronze medal in the javelin with his best throw ever, 245 feet, 10 inches. He led after the first round, but wasn't able to hold off Ed Kaminski of Merriam, Kan., whose winning throw of 260 feet was the second best in the country this year.
``I got the other guys excited,'' Johnson joked of his early lead. ``I didn't want them beaten by a decathlete.''
Kevin Young, the 1992 Olympic champion and world record-holder in the 400-meter hurdles, finished sixth in his race. His time of 50.66 seconds was well off his world record of 46.78 and nearly two seconds slower than that of the winner, Maurice Mitchell of Chicago. Young also ran a leg on the last-place 1,600-meter relay team.
The local organizing committee said just more than 300,000 tickets had been sold for the 10-day festival, and officials expected to reach the $1.9 million in ticket sales that they needed to break even. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS
Alexis Brion of Virginia Beach, left, and Melinda Baimbridge of
Webster, Texas, regale in their gymnastics victories Sunday.
Norfolk's Tonya Williams clears the last hurdle on her way to
winning the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 56.68.
by CNB