BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 9 : DAILY REPORT : DIVING : Scoggin Rallies From Flop to Get Last Berth in Finals

Matt Scoggin’s trouble was in the numbers.

He flubbed a backward 3 1/2 somersault on his next-to-last dive in the men’s 10-meter platform preliminaries Sunday, earning 4s and 4.5s.

Scoggin, of Austin, Tex., was in the top four through the first four rounds before the disastrous dive dropped him to 15th with one dive remaining.

“Fortunately, there was a long enough period between that dive and my next dive where I could gather myself up to get the motivation to do that last dive like I did,” he said.

He went from next to last to first in scoring among the judges on his final dive--a backward 1 1/2 somersault with 3 1/2 twists. He earned the round’s highest marks--including a 9.5--to sneak in as the 12th and final qualifier.

“I just focused in on what my coach told me,” Scoggin said. “He said stand it up, don’t fall back, and get my legs up strong, so it just drops in vertically.”

Scott Donie, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., was 22nd after his first two required dives. But he came on in the optional portion and moved up to fourth. With Donie and Scoggin advancing, it means all eight of the U.S. team’s divers qualified for the finals.

Xiong Ni led China to the first two qualifying spots. Xiong, who won the Olympic silver medal behind Greg Louganis in 1988 at Seoul, finished first in the preliminaries with 453.870 points. His 16-year-old teammate, Sun Shuwei, was second, and Jan Hempel of Germany was third.

“The three guys that are 1-2-3 were the favorites coming in here to get the medals,” said Ron O’Brien, the U.S. coach. “I think Donie’s performance today certainly puts him in a position to challenge those people. Matt’s got all the dives to do the same thing, and it’ll just depend on who does the best job.”

ARCHERY

Bronze Medal as Easy as 1-2-3 Americans

Natalia Valeeva of the Commonwealth of Independent States single-handedly eliminated the entire U.S. women’s team en route to the bronze medal in the 70-meter archery event, which she won by defeating Wang Xiaozhu of China, 104-102. Cho Youn Jeong beat South Korean countrywoman Kim Soo Nyung, 112-105, to win the gold medal.

Valeeva had rallied in the quarterfinals to turn back Denise Parker of South Jordan, Utah, 107-105, after Parker had led by three points with two arrows to go. In previous matches, Valeeva beat the two other U.S. women, Sherry Block of Thornton, Colo., 101-99, during the second round and Jennifer O’Donnell of Farmington, Mich., 112-105 during the third.

“I knew she was an excellent shooter. But I thought I had a chance,” O’Donnell said.

Block put it this way: “It was certainly a learning experience.”

CANOE / KAYAK

Jacobi, Strausbaugh Get Gold

Americans Joe Jacobi and Scott Strausbaugh thought they could win a medal in whitewater doubles canoeing, but they never thought they would take the gold.

It was only the fifth canoeing or kayaking gold medal won by the United States in Olympic history.

Jacobi, of Bethesda, Md., and Strausbaugh, of Dover, Pa., had a score of 122.41 on the last of their two runs.

“Once we got on the river today, I felt relieved,” Jacobi said. “The focus just closed down and the vision just opened up. The river seemed narrow, the gates seemed wide. It was just ideal.”

Pierpaolo Ferrazzi of Italy won the gold in the single kayak slalom with a score of 106.89. Eric Jackson of Bethesda, Md., finished 13th, and Rich Weiss of Steamboat Springs, Colo., was 16th.

SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING

Babb-Sprague Tied for Lead

Kristen Babb-Sprague, 24, of Pleasanton, Calif., is tied with world champion Sylvie Frechette of Canada at 98.520 points apiece after the preliminary round of solo synchronized swimming.

Frechette, still recovering from the shock of her fiance’s apparent suicide two weeks ago, decided to go on with the competition despite the tragedy. Frechette found her fiance,Sylvain Lake, dead in the closed garage of the couple’s Montreal home, where a car was running. Lake was a former 400-meter runner and television sports commentator. No note was found, and Frechette has said she is at a loss to explain the death.

BADMINTON

Indonesians in Semifinals

It was nearly a clean sweep in the men’s quarterfinals for Indonesia, whose athletes won three of the four matches. Ardy Wiranata, Indonesia’s top player and a gold-medal favorite, defeated Poul Erik Hoyer-Larsen of Denmark, 15-10, 15-12. His teammate, Alan Budi Kusuma, beat Kim Hak Kyun of South Korea, 15-9, 15-4, and Hermawan Susanto defeated Zhao Jianhua of China, 15-2, 14-17, 17-14. In the other match, Thomas Stuer-Lauridsen of Denmark beat Sidek Rashid of Malaysia, 15-12, 15-8.

MEDALISTS

* CANOE / KAYAK

(Men’s slalom kayak single) GOLD Pierpaolo Ferrazzi (Italy) SILVER Sylvain Curinier (France) BRONZE Jochen Lettman (Germany)

(Men’s slalom canoe doubles) GOLD Scott Strausbaugh, Joe Jacobi (United States) SILVER Miroslav Simek, Jiri Rohan (Czechoslovakia BRONZE Franck Adisson, Wilfrid Forgues (France)

* ARCHERY

(Women’s individual) GOLD Cho Youn Jeong (South Korea) SILVER Kim Soo Nyung (South Korea) BRONZE Natalia Valeeva (CIS)