Lakes Hopes to Repeat Reversal : Gymnastics: The Newhall athlete went from 19th to No. 1 on the U.S. team in 1988. He thinks he can pull it off again for the 1992 Olympics.

Charles Lakes has gone from 19th to first before. He plans to do it again. To some degree, his three-year quest begins this weekend.

Lakes, one of the few blacks competing in the predominantly white sport of gymnastics, held the No. 1 spot on the U.S. team in the 1988 Olympic Games, where he finished 19th.

He is shooting for a gold medal in the 1992 Olympics at Barcelona, Spain.

“I believe I can do it,” Lakes said by telephone from his home in Newhall. “I finished 19th at the Olympic Trials in 1984, and then I finished first in 1988.

“That happened in four years. It’s almost the same exact situation. The difference between first and 19th in gymnastics isn’t that much.”

Lakes, 25, did not formally take up gymnastics until he was 12 although he said he actually started a lot earlier.

“Twelve is quite late, but it’s not that rare because a lot of guys do it,” Lakes said. “But they usually won’t go on to have successful careers.

“I feel like I’ve been a gymnast as long as I can remember, flipping around the house, breaking furniture, that sort of thing. It was only after I saw the Olympic Games in 1976 that I realized there was a name to what I had been doing on the playgrounds and around the house.”

Lakes, who grew up in St. Louis and moved to California when he was 9, will compete in the U.S. Gymnastics Federation Winter Nationals at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., this weekend.

Obviously, he would like to do well, but he is more concerned about the future.

“I injured my knee a couple weeks ago,” Lakes said. “It swelled up pretty badly. I’m just getting full flexibility back.

“It won’t discourage me if I’m not No. 1. After you’ve done the Olympics, you can certainly focus on specific goals. Right now, I feel like next summer is what I’m really shooting for--the Goodwill Games, that’s when I have to be on. I’ve got the time to put in; that’s the primary thing.

“My plan is to go to the Goodwill Games and beat the Soviets. That’s my immediate goal, set myself up for the 1991 World Championships, and 1992.”

Lakes realizes he has extra responsibility as a role model.

“I think the main reason there haven’t been more blacks in the sport is because of a lack of role models,” he said. “If I can fulfill that position, I really embrace that. It feels good.

“I think a lot of people who reach any sort of level of renown, they believe they have no further responsibility. I think it’s quite the opposite. When you start doing well, you take on a great deal of responsibility.”