BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS: DAY 3 : U.S. Men Take Hard Fall to 5th Place : Gymnastics: Expecting big things before the Games, Americans are brought back down to earth.

They came into these Olympic Games talking the gymnastics version of trash.

This was going to be the start of something great in American men’s gymnastics, they said. A bronze medal was realistic, they said.

They even gave themselves a nickname, “the Now Boys.”

But that was all before they checked out the mats.

The American dream of winning the bronze in the men’s gymnastics competition was destroyed by, of all things, hard landing mats.

At least, that is the excuse the U.S. competitors used Monday night to explain their fifth-place performance in the compulsory phase of the team competition.

“The mats are very hard, and we had trouble adjusting to them, we all did,” Jair Lynch said. “There is no way to prepare for it unless you practice on concrete.”

The United States made three major mistakes during the opening round, two of them on dismounts at the end of vaults. Hence, the excuses.

The Commonwealth of Independent States had no trouble with the conditions, jumping to an enormous--for gymnastics--lead over second-place China, 2.625 points, and held the first four spots in the individual competition. Japan is third and Germany fourth in the team standings.

The United States found itself 1.4 points out of fourth and 2.85 points out of third going into Wednesday night’s optional session, when the final team results will be determined.

“It’s pretty unrealistic to think we can move into third,” American Coach Francis Allen said. “We will scramble to improve (Wednesday) and if our success scares some other team, then that’s great. As long as we are part of the excitement and not part of a disaster, that will be what we want.”

Allen has seen enough disaster for one Olympics. In a meet with this much talent, slight stumbles lead to major scoring markdowns, something the United States learned Monday.

Lynch, for instance, who scored 9.9 in his vault at the Olympic trials, tried to duplicate that mark here by going for what he called “a big score.” Instead, he botched his landing so badly that he wound up with an awful 8.975. That score was tossed out--only the top individual five scores in each of the six apparatuses count--but then Chris Waller, probably the team’s best compulsory vaulter, botched his dismount too and came away with a 9.025, pulling down the team total.

John Roethlisberger caught his foot on his pommel horse dismount for another major error and a 9.15 score.

“We are lower than we thought we would be,” Roethlisberger said. “My legs are dead (from the mats) and I think everyone else is tired too. But we are a lot stronger in optionals than we’ve been in the past. I think we can move up on a good night.”

Not everyone on the U.S. team was unhappy. Trent Dimas had the meet of his life today, hitting a 9.725 in the high bar, and had a score of 57.000 points.

“I couldn’t ask for any more,” Dimas said. “Today was the end-all of everything that I’ve trained so hard for. Compulsories is always my weakest. I had a great meet today. Everything just went boom, boom, boom.”

Dimas’ coach, Ed Burch, called the performance on the high bar almost perfect. He said it would have scored at least a 9.90 had Dimas performed later in the day, when the judges are more inclined to hand out high marks.

Dominici Minicucci also turned in a solid performance at 56.775, including a 9.650 on the high bar.

In the evening session, Scott Keswick of UCLA moved to the lead for the Americans with a 57.775 score. Waller’s slip marred an otherwise solid performance and he scored 57.775.

Roethlisberger scored 57.000 points, including a 9.700 on the rings. Lynch finished at 56.725.

The United States has been trying to move into the top ranks of men’s gymnastics for years, but can’t make the breakthrough. Forget the first-place finish at the 1984 Games. If the Communist world hadn’t boycotted the Los Angeles Games, there Americans would not have won. The United States was 11th in Seoul, and the best it has done lately was a fifth at last year’s world meet.

“For some of these (apparatuses), it’s still just hard for us to get decent scores,” Allen said. “We never get the benefit of the doubt from the judges.”

Or from the mats.