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Sorry, mom Gymnastics' balance (beam) of power has shifted
SYDNEY, Australia -- I received the following e-mail from my mother Monday morning, which I'll share with you in its entirety: Dear Eddie, I'm worried about you. It looks as if the U.S. Gymnastics team is all falling apart with injuries! Then they won't let that wonderful coach stand on the sidelines. The Bush team is all falling apart here, too! Love, Mom Lots of grist in that midget mill. In person, my mother will beat a subject to death, jabbing and prodding and wringing it until you want to hang yourself. But when she has to type out whatever is bedeviling her, she's a hit-and-run driver. Let's break it down sentence by sentence. I'm worried about you. Why? Don't be. I'm fine, eating kangaroo steaks and grilled barramundi, a delicious if hideous-looking fish. Drinking a lager or two. Enjoying the weather and Games. Sleeping well. That the U.S. gymnastics team hasn't won any medals is no skin off my peach. It looks as if the U.S. gymnastics team is falling apart with injuries. Not true. Seventeen-year-old Morgan White did suffer a stress fracture in her right foot, which cost the team its one pixie-like presence. But no team is ever completely healthy in this sport. The real problem with the U.S. women in the preliminary round was that the gymnasts were falling apart -- period. Then Bela Karolyi, the National Team Coordinator, gave them a little talk about pulling for each other, being united during the competition, acting like a team. Some noses were already out of joint because 15-year-old Tasha Schwikert had earlier been named to replace White, instead of the other alternate, Alyssa Beckerman, a popular member of the 1999 national team. The pep talk had an effect. In the team finals Tuesday night the U.S. performed well, if not spectacularly, to finish fourth behind Romania, Russia and China, who took gold, silver and bronze, respectively. The Americans supported each other, had fun, and improved on every apparatus except the balanced beam, which proved to be the Achilles' heel of the U.S. squad. Fourth was a good result for this team. The U.S. gymnasts weren't talented enough to win a medal unless one of the top three teams tanked. Schwikert, a Las Vegas native whose parents, Jay Schwikert and Shannon Warren, are both casino dealers, performed with unusual poise. She is being touted as the heart of a new crop of hungry U.S. gymnasts who'll make the necessary sacrifices to regain the podium in 2004. "She'll be the next generation leader," predicts Karolyi. "The one that the younger ones will follow." Then they won't let that wonderful coach stand on the sidelines. Right. But you see, Bela's not a coach anymore. He's a "coordinator." The U.S. would certainly have benefited from his presence on the floor, since he has a reputation and presence that the judges, try as they might, find difficult to ignore. And he makes the kids feel like they can walk through fire. But the coaches who bring the U.S. gymnasts to the Olympic level feel proprietary toward their athletes, and more than a little jealous of Karolyi's reputation. They want to get that kind of respect, too, and how will they ever do so with Bela hogging the limelight? So there would have been political ramifications to having Bela on the floor, and anyone who thinks politics doesn't play a huge role in Olympic sports hasn't been paying attention. Which doesn't mean that the "wonderful coach" was happy to watch from the press box. "I never in my experience have to stand on my butt through the competition," he proclaimed in his rich Transylvanian lilt, "which is now bleeding." The Bush team is falling apart here too! Rats. Well, there's always 2004. Do you think he'll do better than fourth? Sports Illustrated senior writer E.M. Swift is in Sydney covering the
Olympic gymnastics competition for the magazine and CNNSI.com. Check back daily
to read Swift's behind-the-scenes reports from Down
Under.
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