BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : DAILY REPORT : DIVING : U.S. Women Fall Behind Early but Rally to Qualify for Finals

Irina Lachko of the Commonwealth of Independent States took the lead for good on her second dive, but the American divers went down to their sixth and final dives before clinching berths in Monday’s women’s springboard finals.

Julie Ovenhouse rallied from 23rd to fifth on her final two dives, and Karen LaFace moved up eight places on her last dive to sneak into the finals.

Ovenhouse, of Howell, Mich., had 291.480 points, and LaFace of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., placed 11th with 279.060. Only the top 12 advanced to the finals.

Lachko finished first with 334.890 points. The 19-year-old Russian was fourth in the 1988 Olympics.

Gao Min, the gold medalist at Seoul, scored 309.750. She was third in the qualifying behind Lachko and Brita Baldus of Germany, who scored 312.900.

LaFace, a 10-year veteran of the U.S. national team, needed a big score on her final dive to qualify. She was in 19th place and hit a backward 1 1/2 somersault with 2 1/2 twists. The marks, ranging from 6.5 to 7.5, gave her the fifth highest-scoring dive of the final round.

Other qualifiers: Yuki Motobuchi of Japan, fourth; Vera Ilina of the CIS, sixth; Heidemarie Bartova of Czechoslovakia, seventh; Julia Cruz of Spain, eighth; Veronica Ribot-Canales of Argentina, ninth; Simona Koch of Germany, 10th; and Mary Depiero of Canada, 12th.

The United States has won at least one medal in women’s springboard in every Olympics since 1920, except during the Olympic boycott of 1980. Jennifer Chandler won the U.S.’s last gold in 1976.

JUDO

Brazil Wins First Gold Medal, Spain Gets Second in Two Days

Rogerio Sampaio of Brazil won his country’s first gold medal in judo, and Almudena Munoz won Spain’s second title in as many days.

Sampaio overpowered Jozsef Csak of Hungary in the men’s half-lightweight final.

Munoz thrilled a home crowd at the Palau Blaugrana arena by winning the women’s half-lightweight final against Noriko Mizoguchi of Japan by one point.

Munoz, seventh at the last world championship, helped Spain equal the title total of Japan.

Israel Hernandez of Cuba and former East German Udo Quellmalz took bronze medals in the men’s event.

Li Zhongyun of China and Sharon Rendle of Britain won the women’s bronzes.

YACHTING

Reynolds, Haenel Clinch Gold

Mark Reynolds and Hal Haenel of the United States won the first yachting gold medal with a race to spare by crossing the finish line in 11th place in the sixth race of the Star keelboat class.

Five earlier top-three finishes assured them of victory in the seven-race series.

Their victory was compensation for missing the gold in the 1988 Games when their mast snapped in the final race.

“We were happy to win the silver in 1988 but disappointed because we were so close to the gold,” said Reynolds, the skipper.

Said Haenel: “We’ll take the day off (today). We broke our mast in the last race last time and we don’t want it to happen again.”

Reynolds and Haenel had two firsts, a second and two thirds before Saturday’s race. Hans Wallen and Bobby Lohse of Sweden needed to win the sixth race to have any hope of the gold medal. They finished ninth.

Prince Felipe of Spain finished sixth in the series of six fleet races in the three-man Soling. His eighth place in Saturday’s race was enough to qualify for the six-boat match-race series that decides the medals.

Luis Dorests of Spain kept a narrow lead over American Paul Foerster after six races in the two-man Flying Dutchman class by coming in third, one place ahead of his rival.

American Mike Gebhardt regained the lead in the men’s boardsailing after nine of the 10 races, and Randy Smyth of the United States led in the Tornado catamaran by winning the fifth race of seven.

TEAM HANDBALL

U.S. Women Eliminated, 32-16

Germany beat the United States, 32-16, eliminating the Americans from medal contention.

The United States is 0-2 and can finish no better than fifth in its pool.

Eike Bram blocked 13 of 27 shots for the Germans (2-0).

Leora (Sam) Jones of Mount Olive, N.C., scored seven goals for the United States.

FIELD HOCKEY

Pakistan Takes Lead in Pool B

Pakistan (4-0) took over first place in Pool B with a 3-2 victory over the Netherlands (3-1).

In other Pool B games, Spain stayed in contention with a 4-0 victory over the CIS (1-3) and Malaysia (1-3) scored a 3-2 victory over New Zealand (0-4).

In Pool A, Australia (3-0-1) remained tied for the lead with Germany (3-0-1) with a 1-0 victory over India, and the Germans registered an 8-2 victory over Egypt (0-4). Britain (3-1) stayed alive by scoring a 2-1 victory over Argentina (1-3).

MEDALISTS

* JUDO

(Men’s half-lightweight)

GOLD: Rogerio Sampaio (Brazil)

SILVER: Jozsef Csak (Hungary)

BRONZE: Israel Hernandez (Cuba)

BRONZE: Udo Quellmalz (Germany)

(Women’s half-lightweight)

GOLD: Almudena Munoz (Spain)

SILVER: Noriko Mizoguchi (Japan)

BRONZE: Sharon Rendle (Britain)

BRONZE: Li Zhongyun (China)