Selecting women's team for Athens won't be easy
Advertiser News Services
A dozen aerial backflips on the balance beam might be easier than picking the U.S. women's Olympic team.
Co-national champion Courtney Kupets seems to have one of the two almost-but-not-quite-guaranteed spots locked up, but the rest of the team is even more muddled after the first round of the Olympic trials last night at Anaheim, Calif.
Can't-miss favorite Carly Patterson bobbled and wobbled. Underdogs Mohini Bhardwaj and Tabitha Yim, to name a few, threw down huge performances.
"It felt a little different because it's trials," admitted Patterson, who is getting a rare look at fourth place after a slip off the balance beam and a miscue on the uneven bars. "There are a lot of girls trying to get on the Olympic team, so there might have been a little more nervousness."
Kupets is in first with 38.075 points, 0.3 points ahead of up-and-comer Courtney McCool. Terin Humphrey is third, Patterson is fourth, Yim is fifth and Bhardwaj is sixth. Tasha Schwikert, the only holdover from the 2000 Olympic team is seventh, but she's less than a point behind Kupets.
The finals are tomorrow, and the top two finishers will be nominated to the Olympic team. But their spots aren't assured until they demonstrate "readiness" at next month's selection camp at national team coordinator Martha Karolyi's ranch.
At least seven other gymnasts will be invited to the camp. After a two-day competition, the selection committee will choose the remaining four members of the team and three alternates on July 18.
CYCLING
World champ barred from Tour de France
World champion cyclist David Millar of Britain was barred from next week's Tour de France after he was implicated in a doping investigation.
Police sources, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said investigators found syringes in Millar's home and he confessed to using doping products.
Race organizers said all cyclists investigated or implicated in doping probes will be banned from the three-week event which begins July. 3
SOCCER
Defending Euro champ France ousted
Defending champion France was knocked out of the European Championship last night, losing to Greece, 1-0, at Lisbon, Portugal.
For the first time in the history of the quadrennial event, which began in 1960, Europe's five biggest soccer powers all failed to make the semifinals. Germany, Italy and Spain were eliminated in the first round, and England lost its quarterfinal to Portugal on Thursday.
Angelos Charisteas scored in the 66th minute on a header.
In one semifinal, Greece plays the winner of tomorrow's quarterfinal between the Czech Republic and Denmark, the 1992 champion. Portugal meets the winner of today's game between Sweden and the Netherlands, the 1988 champion.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
USC receiver Williams in summer school
Wide receiver Mike Williams is enrolled at Southern California for summer school, but there's no word from the NCAA on whether he will be allowed to play college football next season.
Williams, who was kept out of the NFL draft by the courts, starts school next week, school spokesman Tim Tessalone said.
But Tessalone said the university hasn't heard from the NCAA on Williams' status.
"It's ultimately the NCAA's decision," he said.
The All-America sophomore left USC shortly after the spring semester began.
