The Pacific Alliance Championships will showcase potential candidates for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and will feature men's and women's competitors, including the award-winning Team USA.

The NBC-televised competition is expected to draw nearly 400 delegates, including 225 Olympic hopefuls from more than a dozen countries, to the University of Hawai'i campus.

The competition is being called by organizers as the most prestigious gymnastics event ever hosted in Honolulu. The competition is also scheduled to be held in Hawai'i in 2006.

"This year, we bring the cream of the world right here to Hawai'i," said former U.S. coach Bela Karolyi, 62, who is assisting with the event. "For the men, you'll see the best two teams in the world (in China and the U.S.). On the women's competition, we're going to see the reigning world champion U.S. team versus the rest of the world."

At August's World Championships in Anaheim, Calif., Team USA won seven medals, including five golds. The U.S. women won the nation's first World Championships gold medal, and Paul Hamm won the USA's first men's all-around gold medal.

The Pacific Alliance Championships is "the most important competition that will happen in the Pacific Rim," said USA Gymnastics President Bob Colarossi. The competition will feature teams from Australia, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Columbia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines and the United States.

Lt. Gov. Duke Aiona said the Pacific Alliance Championships will serve as a precedent for future Olympic-caliber events to be hosted in Hawai'i.

"I think this will speak volumes in regards to other teams coming," Aiona said. "With the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, I think Hawai'i will be the best staging ground for a lot of sports like soccer, tennis and also triathlons."

Hawaiian Island Twisters coach Joe Rapp called the Pacific Alliance Championships a great learning tool for Hawai'i athletes.

"This is a unique experience that we rarely get to see, except on TV," said Rapp, who added Hawai'i has more than 2,000 gymnasts from 15 clubs. "We're actually allowed to view the training, so it's invaluable to our athletes."

University of Hawai'i athletic director Herman Frazier said the gymnastics event is projected to infuse more than $40,000 into UH from parking, concessions and rental of the Stan Sheriff Center.

Frazier will be the Chef de Mission for the 2004 Olympic Games where he will serve as a spokesperson and oversee the logistics for the entire 1,200 U.S. contingent that will travel to Athens. Frazier said his Olympic duties will require him to be with the U.S. contingent from Aug. 1 to Aug. 31.

The Pacific Alliance Championships is the second Olympic-caliber event being held in Hawai'i that week in April. The U.S. Olympic Triathlon Trials will be held on April 18 in Waikiki.

Notes: The public is invited to meet Bela Karolyi today at the Hawaiian Island Twisters Gym, 46-174C Kahuhipa St., from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. The event is free. For more information, call 235-4487. ... For seven consecutive Olympics, gymnastics is by far "the No. 1 watched television event," said Karolyi, who led the 1996 women's Olympic team to its first-ever gold medal, and has coached 28 Olympians, including Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Julianne McNamara, Phoebe Mills, Brandy Johnson, Kim Zmeskal, Betty Okino, Kerri Strug and Dominique Moceanu.