BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 4 : Zmeskal’s Rally Leads the Way : Gymnastics: U.S. women earn bronze as she leads optionals of team competition. CIS wins the gold, Romania the silver.

Don’t be deceived by her appearance, 4 feet 8 and 80 pounds. Kim Zmeskal has a heart as big as Barcelona, as big as the Summer Olympics.

Tuesday night, she had a lucky bobby pin in her hair and steel in her step, earning a reprieve while leading the U.S. team to the bronze medal.

Zmeskal, the reigning world champion who nearly eliminated herself from contention for the all-around title by falling off the balance beam in the compulsories, picked herself up. She had the highest score in the optionals, leapfrogged two teammates, and earned one of 36 spots in tonight’s all-around final.

“In basketball, you miss a shot, and the game isn’t over,” she said. “In weightlifting, you get three chances. But we only get one. It’s kind of nerve racking. But that is what makes gymnastics’ different.”

This was a four-ring circus. The Commonwealth of Independent States, competing here as the Unified Team, picked up the team gold with 395.666 points. And the Romanians, with 395.079, breezed past the Americans for the silver, the United States finishing with 394.704.

But mostly, it was a night filled with personal stories:

--There was Zmeskal, coming back from gymnastics’ equivalent of fourth-and-long to barge her way into the all-around.

--There was her American teammate, Shannon Miller, actually leading all individual performers with 79.311 points.

--And there was Bela Karolyi, the U.S. coach, announcing that this would be the last time he would direct a team in international competition.

Said Zmeskal, 16, of Houston: “I’ve never been under this kind of pressure. I needed a pretty strong effort.”

Because each nation can send only three competitors to the all-around final, Zmeskal had to pass her teammates. She vaulted over Dominique Dawes of Silver Spring, Md. And then she took out her training partner, Kerri Strug, of Tucson, who started the night 0.274 points ahead, and joined Miller, of Edmond, Okla., and Betty Okino of Elmhurst, Ill., in the all-around final.

“The toughest part wasn’t to make the final 36,” Zmeskal said. “It was the rule that only three per country could go. Kerri did a really good job. I barely edged her out.”

The event that launched Zmeskal was the one that nearly finished her off in the compulsories--the balance beam. In the warm-up, she buckled and fell. But in competition, Zmeskal walked out on the four-inch ledge, tumbled and danced, and had a near perfect landing to gain a 9.912 score.

“You feel like everyone is watching you,” she said. “You have been training 10 1/2 years for this. This is the Olympics. You have only one chance. You want it to be the best one you can do.”

Zmeskal said it was the lucky bobby pin, given to her by a Houston friend, Lori White, that got her through the routine. White had handed Zmeskal another one night before, but after she fell, Zmeskal threw it away.

“The old one lost all of its luck,” Zmeskal said.

While Zmeskal talked of trying to win the all-around, her coach, Karolyi, stood by, tears welling in his eyes. The man who guided Olympic all-around champions Mary Lou Retton and Nadia Comaneci said he was going to retire from team coaching.

“I just can’t cope with it anymore,” said Karolyi, who endured months of criticism during a rancorous team selection process.

Despite the latest retirement speech, Karolyi could not contain his enthusiasm for Zmeskal.

“Kimbo has a gift for coming back,” he said. “I was sure her performance would be sturdy. But I believe getting the team medal was No. 1 in her mind.”

But now, the scores are wiped out and the top 36 will go for individual gold. Zmeskal, Miller, Svetlana Boguinskaia of the CIS and Cristina Bontas of Romania are the four favorites for the top three all-around medals.

“It’s going to be a great faceoff,” said Miller’s coach, Steve Nunno. “But as far as I’m concerned, Shannon is No. 1.”

That will be decided tonight. But for one moment, at least, Zmeskal wanted to savor a comeback.

“We got a bronze medal,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to forget that.”

Gymnastics Medalists

WOMEN’S TEAM

GOLD: CIS

SILVER: Romania

BRONZE: United States