Soviet Gymnasts Take Suspense Out of Women’s Competition : Goodwill Games: Americans Kim Zmeskal and Betty Okino are no match in the all-around competition.

Encouraged by the performances of two U.S. gymnasts 24 hours earlier in the team competition, a near-capacity crowd of 16,689 came to the Tacoma Dome Saturday to see Kim Zmeskal and Betty Okino continue their pursuit of excellence and the Soviets.

In women’s gymnastics, that is virtually the same thing.

But when the Americans’ chances to win the Goodwill Games all-around championship evaporated even before the first rotation was completed, so did the drama. The only suspense remainingrevolved around which of the two Soviets would win.

Conventional wisdom would have sided with world champion and 1988 Olympic all-around silver medalist Svetlana Boguinskaia, but it would have been mistaken. She finished second to one of the Soviets’ emerging stars, Natalia Kalinina, 15, who clinched the gold medal with a perfect score in the floor exercise of 10.0, the only one of the competition so far.

Kalinina received at least 9.9 on each of the four apparatuses and finished with a score of 39.836 to Boguinskaia’s 39.799. Hungary’s Henrietta Onodi finished third at 39.348.

Okino and Zmeskal did not allow their disappointments in the uneven parallel bars to overwhelm them, rebounding to finish fourth and sixth, respectively. Okino, 15, finished with 39.298 points, and Zmeskal, 14, had 39.074.

“Sure, we’re not a happy bunch today,” said their coach, Bela Karolyi, who supervised the United States in its second-place finish to the Soviets Friday night in the team competition. “I wanted to see them (perform) just like yesterday.”

Among the 32 gymnasts who competed Friday, Zmeskal, the youngest U.S. all-around champion ever, had the highest score, with Okino was fourth. Between them were two Soviets, Kalinina and Tatiana Lisenko.

Boguinskaia, 17, was 10th, which was not good enough to automatically qualify her for the all-around competition. Countries were prohibited from entering more than two of their four gymnasts. But Soviet Coach Alexander Aleksandrov announced after the competition that he would replace Lisenko with Boguinskaia due to an injury.

There was speculation that the Turner Broadcasting System pressured the Soviets to make the switch because Boguinskaia is the sport’s reigning queen. Turner officials not only denied they influenced Aleksandrov, their network did not report the news until Saturday afternoon.

“That’s a well-known practice by the Soviets, changing (gymnasts) because of a special political situation,” Karolyi said. “Boguinskaia has the name. She will get the scores and the public support no matter what she’s going to do. That didn’t surprise me at all.”

Karolyi, along with everyone else, was surprised Kalinina had the poise to overcome Boguinskaia.

Kalinina assumed the lead after her first apparatus, the vault, and never relinquished it. Boguinskaia was close entering the final rotation, but Kalinina received 10s from four of the five judges. The U.S. judge awarded her a 9.95.

“She was the most solid, consistent performer all night,” Karolyi said of Kalinina. “Her 10 came probably as an expression that the judges recognized her value. I would have given it to her, too.”

Kalinina, who, like Boguinskaia, is from the Ukraine, said it was the first 10 she has received in international competition.

“I have one main feeling, just great happiness,” she said. “I don’t know how to say it any other way.”

Karolyi said he welcomes the emergence of Kalinina. She finished second this year in the all-around competition at the European Championships to Boguinskaia, but also finished second in the American Cup to Zmeskal.

“Kim and Kalinina, I’m sure this rivalry can go on and on and on,” Karolyi said. “It will be a tremendous athletic spectacle.

“It is difficult to beat Boguinskaia because of the titles she holds. She gets the recognition because of her name. But Kalinina is like Kim. One is no more famous than the other. It’s a more fair competition.”

Zmeskal, whose family lives only a few hundred yards from Karolyi’s gym in Houston and has been training with him since she was 6, fell while attempting a release move from straddle somersault on the uneven parallel bars and was 15th out of 16 gymnasts after the first rotation.

Okino, who is from Elmhurst, Ill., but trains under Karolyi in Houston, was shaken by Zmeskal’s fall. Okino also made an error on the bars, getting one leg tangled with the lower bar while making a move on the higher one.

“I wasn’t supposed to be watching Kim,” Okino said. “I was supposed to concentrate on myself. I’m not pleased with my performance.”

But Karolyi said he was proud of both for maintaining their composure and performing well in the final three apparatuses. Zmeskal had the third best score in the vault and fourth best on the beam, with Okino fourth in the vault and fifth on the beam.

“They weren’t crying, weren’t hysterical,” Karolyi said. “This was a tremendous test, tremendous pressure. It’s tremendous experience for the World Championships in 1991.”