GOODWILL GAMES : ROUNDUP : Chinese Diver, 11, Wins Gold Medal

At 4-foot-6 and 75 pounds, Fu Mingxia barely makes a ripple when she hits the water, but she made a big splash at the Goodwill Games.

The 11-year-old Chinese sensation became the youngest gold medalist at the games Saturday night in the women’s 10-meter platform at Federal Way, Wash.

“I think I can do a little better,” Fu said through an interpreter. “I will try a little harder next time.”

Officials believe Fu is the youngest person to win a major international diving competition, winning the Alamo Invitational in May at Boca Raton, Fla.

Fu, who turns 12 on Aug. 16, took the lead on the first of the eight dives, an inward 1 1/2 somersault in a pike position, and never relinquished it, winning with 443.04 points.

Elena Miroshina of the Soviet Union took the silver at 433.59 and teammate Inga Afonina got the bronze at 430.53.

Wendy Lian Williams of the United States, the 1989 World Diving Cup gold medalist, finished fifth at 418.23.

Williams, extremely unhappy with her performance, said she wasn’t surprised by Fu.

“I’m kind of getting used to it,” she said. “They had another good diver who was 11 or 12 several years ago. And I was in China last June and saw a lot of incredibly talented 7- and 8-year-olds. It was just amazing.”

The two-time world and Olympic champion U.S. women’s team moved into the basketball final with a 106-67 rout of Bulgaria.

Theresa Edwards scored 19 points for the Americans (4-0), and Lynette Woodard and Carolyn Jones had 12 each.

Australia beat Czechoslovakia, 64-63, in overtime in the consolation round as Shelley Gorman put in a layup with seven seconds left.

Sergio Reyes of Ft.Worth won the 119-pound gold medal with a 3-2 decision over Serafim Todorov of Bulgaria. Reyes, a 5-foot-3 Marine, threw punches in flurries, applied the pressure from the opening bell.

Tim Austin of Cincinnati also squeaked out a 3-2 decision over Dzhambulat Mutayev of the Soviet Union to win the 112-pound gold.

Raul Marquez of Houston lost a 4-1 decision to Francisc Vastag of Romania in the 147-pound final.

World champion Felix Savon of Cuba took a 5-0 decision over Yevgeni Sudakov of the Soviet Union in the heavyweight final.

In other finals, Cuba’s 132-pound world champion, Julio Gonzales, lost a 3-2 decision to Artur Grigoryan of the Soviet Union, and Orestes Solano of Cuba took a 4-1 decision over Sven Ottke of West Germany at 165 pounds.

World Cup champion Cuba won the men’s volleyball bronze medal, beating the U.S., 15-5, 15-11, 15-5.

Italy won the gold, 9-15, 15-7, 15-7, 15-10, over the Soviet Union.

Grzegorz Myszkowski of Poland won the gold medal in sailboarding, thanks in part to Scott Steele of the United States, who won the silver. Fernandez Asier of Spain took the bronze.

Steele testified on Myszkowski’s behalf at a protest hearing after Myszkowski was disqualified for a premature start. Myszkowski was reinstated, giving him a 14.7-point net gain over Steele. Going into the final race, Steele had the lead, but finished fourth while Myszkowski was second to win by four points.

Vukiharu Yoshitaka of Japan won the lightweight gold medal in judo, beating Michael Swain of Santa Clara, the 1988 Olympic bronze medal winner.