SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : KELLY IS SO NEAR, YET SHE’S SO FAR

The hard part for Kim Kelly was walking into the arena and seeing others compete for medals.

Six weeks ago, she was on her way to Barcelona, a member of the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team. But during a final tryout camp, she was cut from the team, a victim of a selection process that was supposed to create the strongest squad for America.

The system produced heartache for the 18-year-old from King of Prussia, Pa.

“I think I deserve to be here,” Kelly said. “I should be competing. It was unfair because of the politics and everything that happened. I still haven’t gotten a reason from anybody why I shouldn’t be here.”

Kelly was fourth in the trials final in Baltimore, but fifth in the overall two-meet selection score used to determine the U.S. team. But a final tryout camp was held earlier this month in Orlando, Fla., to determine the six-member U.S. squad. Kelly was bumped from the team the day before it was scheduled to leave for pre-Olympic training in Europe.

As a consolation prize, the U.S. Gymnastics Federation offered Kelly an airplane ticket to Barcelona and a pass into the gymnastics competition. At first, she declined the gift. But after consulting an attorney, she decided to go to Barcelona, to tell her story and show the world that she belongs in the Olympics.

“It was hard to watch this,” Kelly said after Sunday’s second morning session. “I didn’t think it would be that bad. I was sort of getting over everything, but when I walked into the arena, it just all came back.”

Kelly, who will enter the University of Alabama in August, will remain in Barcelona until the end of the women’s team competition.

Will she root for the Americans?

“You bet,” she said. “Even though I feel I should be on the team, the girls have nothing to do with that. It’s the system. And the system has to be changed.”

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.