U.S OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : This Brandy Shows That She’s Getting Much Better With Age

Brandy Johnson can’t vote, can’t drink, can’t buy grown-up clothes and can’t remember Watergate.

Bela Karolyi says she’s too old.

Brandy Johnson has been on the planet 17 years. If she goes to certain movies, she still requires parental guidance.

Bela Karolyi says she’s over the hill.

Unfortunately for Johnson, Karolyi’s words carry substantial weight in the world of women’s gymnastics. Because Karolyi coached a rising star named Mary Lou Retton six years ago his words still wind up chiseled on stone tablets.

After Johnson, 1988 Olympian and 1989 United States champion, slipped on the balance beam during last month’s nationals in Denver, Karolyi, Johnson’s former coach, shook his head in disapproval and brazenly declared that “1992 belongs to the young ones.”

This is why Johnson, three years shy of twentysomething, has spent the past week at the U.S. Olympic Festival reassuring journalists that, no, she isn’t washed up yet.

“When I said I wanted to compete in the 1988 Olympics, everybody said I’d be too young,” Johnson says with a sigh. “Now I’m too old.”

That’s the conventional wisdom at the halfway point on the road to Barcelona--that Johnson, who turns 19 in 1992, is already yesterday’s news, certainly out of step and out of time when compared to Karolyi’s latest prodigy, 14-year-old Kim Zmeskal.

It happened again Friday night at the St. Paul Civic Center after Johnson scored a 9.95 on the vault and a 9.85 on the floor exercise to win the gold medal in the all-around competition. A TV reporter stuck a microphone in Johnson’s face and asked her, “Won’t you be too old for the ’92 Olympics?”

“I had to remind her that Kelly Garrison and Kathy Johnson were in the Olympics,” Johnson said. “Kelly was 21. Kathy was 24.

“I wonder if they had as many problems as I do.”

Gradually, Grandma Johnson has learned to laugh at the questions.

“If I’m too old,” she wonders, “when will I be able to get into dance clubs?”

Or when will she be able to shop for shoes in the adult section? “It’s hard to find heels that don’t have Mickey Mouse on them,” says Johnson, a size 3.

Johnson became outdated just because she took a wrong turn on a balance beam in Denver. Attempting to defend her national championship, Johnson fell off the beam, which cost her half a point in a congested competition. Still miffed about the misstep, she staggered through a ragged floor exercise, which cost her another half-point.

Johnson finished third overall but sixth in optional routines. Only four qualify for the Goodwill Games, the prestige gymnastics meet this summer.

Johnson was pencilled in as an alternate. As a consolation prize, she was shunted off to the junior varsity at the Olympic Festival, where she got to share resin with 67-pound 12-year olds.

“After the (national) championships, I was kind of upset about the coverage I got,” Johnson said. “It was real negative toward me. They said I was done. It just kind of upset me.

“I decided the only thing I can do I prove them wrong.”

So Johnson came to Minneapolis determined to leave an impression. Or at least alter some. But on Friday, she began her bid by coming face to face with an old foe, the not-so-balanced beam.

Again, Johnson slipped.

Just before her dismount--a bold double back-flip onto the mat--Johnson twisted her right ankle. She pushed off anyway, completing the flip but landing on her nose. The preferred alternative is the feet.

“Basically, she did a double back-flip off on one foot,” said a disbelieving Kevin Brown, Johnson’s current coach. “She had a 9.9, 10.0 beam going until then. She had one foot off the beam and still did the double back-flip. She had a three-point landing on that one, but there aren’t too many that would even try it.”

The judges gave Johnson a 9.4. One exercise down--and Johnson was, too.

“I kept thinking, ‘Why, why, why?’ ” Johnson said. “Why again?

“I had to say, ‘All right, pull it together,’ ” Johnson said. “ ‘Don’t bring it into your next event.”

Wincing with a throbbing ankle--the same ankle she had broken three times--Johnson braced for the floor exercise. Ankle? What ankle? Johnson pounced and pogoed all over the mat, earning an impressive 9.85.

Next up, the vault. Johnson scored 9.85 on her first attempt but stuck the second, with nary a ripple in the landing pad. Johnson grinned broadly. She knew. A 9.95.

Wrapping up the evening with a 9.825 on the uneven bars, Johnson finished with an overall total of 39.025. That not only beat this festival field but every other festival field before it.

Interesting note: Karolyi recently phoned the Johnson household, wondering if Brandy might be interested in rejoining his flock. Before she collects Social Security, of course.

“This has been going on a long time,” Johnson said with a shrug. “I’m pretty much used to it. If you let it bother you then he’s getting what he wants.”

For the moment, Johnson is staying with Brown, staying in Florida and staying on her own course to the Olympics. She’s been there once. Who’s to say she was born too early to get there again?

Brandy usually gets better with age.