U.S. Olympic Festival Roundup : Wilborn Has a Record Day in Gymnastics

A record-setting crowd saw a record-setting performance by 16-year-old Joyce Wilborn in U.S. Olympic Festival gymnastics competition Sunday.

The final day of the most successful festival ever got off to a rousing start as Wilborn scored three perfect 10s--one of which didn’t even count--in winning three gold medals before 20,393 fans at the Dean Smith Center. It was the biggest crowd to see a gymnastics event in the United States.

Her scores were the first 10s ever awarded in the eight years of festival competition. Two came in the vault, although only one was needed for her score, and the other in floor exercise, which she also won.

Wilborn tied for the gold with Danna Lister of Tulsa, Okla., on the balance beam. She did not qualify for the uneven bars final after falling off in the all-around event Friday night.

Wilborn, of Paterson , N.J., said she was eager to put on a show for the big crowd. That was why she made a second vault.

Her floor exercise, to the music of Chaka Khan, gave her another 10 and her fourth gold medal overall--she was on the winning West team Friday night.

Megan Fenton of Sandy, Utah, won the uneven bars.

The record gymnastics crowd helped the festival set an overall attendance record of 460,844. The previous record, set last year in Houston, was 346,944.

At Greensboro, the North rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the South, 6-4, for the hockey gold medal. Brian Johnson of Minnesota-Duluth got the winning goal at 8:56 of the third period.

In track, Greg Foster, the world’s top-ranked hurdler, matched the fastest time in the world this year in the men’s 110-meter high hurdles with a clocking of 13.19. Tonie Campbell had an identical time in May.

Valerie Brisco duplicated her Olympic performance by winning her third gold medal. Brisco, winner of the women’s 200 meters Friday night and the 400 Saturday night, ran the third leg on the West team that won the 1,600-meter relay Sunday night.

The team of Gervaise McCraw of Pomona, Janeene Vickers of Pomona, Brisco and Denean Howard, both of Los Angeles, was timed in 3:24.89, the fastest by an American squad this year. Brisco ran the fastest 400 leg by any runner on the four teams, unofficially clocking 49.7.

The men’s 1,600 relay produced the two fastest times in the world this year. The South team of Walter McCoy of Tallahassee, Fla., Kevin Robinzine of Everman, Tex., Raymond Pierre of Houston and Roddie Haley of Fayetteville, Ark., edged the North by .02 seconds in 2:59.84.

The women’s 100 hurdles was won by Lynda Tolbert of Tempe, Ariz., in a career-best 13.06. She upset American record holder Stephanie Hightower-Leftwich of Columbus, Ohio, and Olympic champion Benita Fitzgerald-Brown of Austin, Tex., who were fifth and sixth.

Lee McRae, the gold medalist in the recent World University Games, matched his career-best time, set at that meet, in the men’s 100-meter dash in 10.07.

UCLA’s Gail Devers of Los Angeles broke the stadium record in the women’s 100 in 11.06.

Lee Balkin of Glendale won the high jump at 7-7 3/4, a career best.

Festival and stadium records also were broken in the women’s 1,500 meters, as Diana Richburg of Troy, N.Y., won in 4:09.86.

Larry Myricks of Ontario took the long jump at 27-1; Chuck Aragon of Albuquerque, N.M., won the 1,500 in 3:39.66; Keith Brantly of Gainesville, Fla., was first in the 5,000 in 13:47.72; Ron Backes of Minneapolis won the shot put at 63-7 3/4; and Mike Gonzales of Redondo Beach won the decathlon with 7,956 points.