THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607270469
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Comment
SOURCE: BY FRED KIRSCH, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 56 lines
I was falling. Head over heels. ... my body twisting. Once. ... twice. myself. The impact was incredible, but I never moved. Not an inch.
The next thing I knew Bela Karolyi had me in a bearhug.
``Good job!,'' he boomed, enveloping me. ``You stick landing. Now this time. ...''
``Thank God, Thank God,'' I said, waking up in a cold sweat. ``Bela Karolyi didn't hug me.''
I was experiencing the Olympic dream.
I knew women's gymnastics was going to be huge part of my Olympic viewing. It really didn't matter that gymnastics has never been one of my favorite sports. When patriotism calls. ... you just do it.
So last Saturday, I hunkered down for NBC's 493 hours of women's competition, determined to nail it. I was going the distance.
But I didn't realize what impact seeing the same uneven bars routine performed 3,412 times and watching Bela slap 678 hugs on anyone under 4-foot-7 would have on me.
``Good job!'' I screamed at my daughter Anna who was dismounting from a kitchen stool after knocking off her cereal routine the morning after the women's compulsories. ``You do good. Yes. But you left a little milk.''
After watching the three-hour, tape-delayed gold-medal performance by the American team on Tuesday, I came home from work the next day, grabbing the nearest Kirschtone in a bearhug and bellowing, ``Has Bela Karolyi hugged you today?''
``Dad, are you OK?'' Emily asked.
It was about halfway through the all-around competition on Thursday, that I began to feel the cumulative effects of being DQed (Dominqued) night after night. I knew one Dominque had a four-centimeter stress fracture and one Dominque's parents were separated, but which was which? Worse, I didn't care.
I was so punchy that when Karolyi was handing out his dozen final hugs of the night I referred to him as Bela Lugosi.
There's only the individual apparatus competition left. I'll get through it somehow and still be able to call myself an American. But enough is enough.
As a guy with three daughters I've come to love women's sports. Hey, I've watched women's golf on TV. I just wish NBC would have cutback some on the gymnastics, recognizing that there's a lot more to women's sports than 90-pound kids who can do a flip on a 4-inch beam.
I wish they would have shown my girls what world class softball (our Real Dream Team) looks like and field hockey and soccer played at the highest levels. That there's other women athletes - table tennis players and cyclists and pistol shooters - who can inspire.
As for me, I'm just happy we're moving on to track. When I go to bed tonight, there'll I'll be coming off the turn of the 200, making my move on the guy in lane 5. ...
The Olympic dream goes on. ILLUSTRATION: Bela Karolyi by CNB