GYMNASTICS : Miller, Scherbo Highlight Meet

There are some sports fans who get all excited about gymnastics during an Olympic year, then forget it until the next Games.

But a tiny teen-ager from Edmond, Okla., is helping to change that pattern. She is 16-year-old Shannon Miller, who won five medals in the 1992 Games at Barcelona and the women’s all-around title in the 1993 World Championships in April at Birmingham, England.

The high school sophomore is the big name in the Hilton Challenge tonight at the Sports Arena, starting at 7. It is a triangular meet pitting the United States men and women against athletes from Ukraine and Belarus, both former republics in the Soviet Union.

The men also present a superstar. He is 21-year-old Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus, who won an unprecedented six gold medals in the last Olympics. Earlier this month he won the World University Games after having earned four gold medals in the World Championships.

There will be 24 gymnasts competing, four men and four women from each nation. Among them they won 19 medals in the Olympics and 13 in the World Championships.

Miller, who trains for up to eight hours six days a week and still maintains a 4.0 grade-point average, has established some lofty goals.

Although few female American gymnasts have competed in consecutive Olympics, Miller has her sights on Atlanta in 1996. First, though, is the national meet. She will be trying for her first national title later this month in Salt Lake City.

One of the reasons she is determined to stay at a peak until 1996 is that although she won five medals at Barcelona, none of them were gold.

“Winning a gold is what everyone strives for,” Miller said. “It will be a disappointment if I don’t get one.”

Miller might not face the problems that cut short the careers of most female gymnasts--increased height and weight. Since the Olympics, she has grown 2 1/2 inches taller and five pounds heavier. But that makes her only 4 feet 10 and 79 pounds.

Her coach, Steve Nunno, said she can make the Olympics again.

“Most women gymnasts peak at 17,” he said. “What stops them is growth. Shannon has a small body. If she keeps up her enthusiasm, she should make it.”

Although Miller said winning the five Olympic medals has not changed her routine or her resolve, it has made a difference.

“It is kind of exciting to have people recognize me,” she said. “Until the Olympics, nobody stopped me in a mall or on the street. The most frequent question is ‘Did you know you look just like Shannon Miller?’ ”

One reason Miller continues to work hard is that competition runs deep. Going into the final event of the all-around competition at the World Championships, four other gymnasts had a chance to beat her.

Two of them, Dominique Dawes of Silver Springs, Md., and Tatiana Lisenko of Ukraine will provide some of the competition for Miller tonight. Dawes finished fourth, Lisenko third in England.

Another top U.S. performer is Kerri Strug, 15, of Tucson, who is trained by Nunno. After the preliminaries in England she was fifth, but only two athletes from each country could compete in the finals.

Scherbo, who is married and became a father in March, continues to dominate men’s competition even more than Miller does the women’s.

He said he hasn’t had time to train properly since the baby was born, but he won four golds, including the all-around, at the World Championships, then earlier this month he won the University Games title.

“It is hard to find time to train, but I still want to return to the Olympics,” said Scherbo, 21. “After all, I will only be 24.”

Two UCLA stars, Chris Waller and Chainey Umphrey, will compete. Waller was U.S. champion in 1991. Umphrey was 13th in the all-around at the University Games. Others on the U.S. team are Dennis Harrison of Nebraska and John Roethlisberger of Minnesota.

Amanda Borden, 16, of Cincinnati is the other member of the U.S. women’s team.