WORLD SCENE : Medals to Be Dedicated to Coach

Biting his lip to keep from breaking into tears, Steve Nunno, who coaches Shannon Miller, walked away from reporters to regain his composure before the final night of gymnastics competition Thursday in the Pan American Games, before returning to answer questions about the death of another U.S. gymnastics coach, Mark (Stormy) Eaton.

Eaton, 45, was killed Wednesday in a small plane crash near Winslow, Ariz. Nunno said that he would not tell the U.S. gymnasts here about the accident until after they finished competing Thursday.

“We are dedicating any medals we win tonight to him,” said Nunno of the former UCLA All-American. “He had many, many champions and never really got the attention he deserved on the international scene. I always wondered how he could keep smiling.”

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Brooke Bennett, 14, of Plant City, Fla., decided she wanted to become an Olympic swimmer when she watched on television as Janet Evans won two gold medals in the 1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul.

“But she’s not my idol any more,” Bennett said last week at the Pan Am Games, where she won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle and a silver in the 800, Evans’ best events. “I know I can beat her.”

Bennett said she might have proved it in Argentina, but Evans chose to compete instead last week in the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships at Minneapolis, where she won her 43rd, 44th and 45th national titles, moving closer to Tracy Caulkins’ record of 48.

“There’s somebody behind her, somebody coming to take her place,” Bennett said. “I think she’s getting a little scared.”

Bennett wants to become a veterinarian, like her grandfather.

“I knew I could handle it when I watched him sew up a dog while I was eating a bowl of cereal,” she said.

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Anita Nall, nicknamed “The Little One” by Evans after emerging on the national scene at 15, is making a comeback at 18. After winning three medals in the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona, she was distressed to find that she could not train for long periods of time without becoming ill.

“I got (the flu) every two weeks,” said Nall, of Hummelstown, Pa. “I was extremely sick until last summer. It was very frustrating.”

After believing she had chronic fatigue syndrome, her condition was diagnosed as a major iron deficiency.

“I went to a dietitian, and I went to a cardiologist,” she said. “A lot of doctors thought I was a hypochondriac, and I was starting to think so myself. They were thinking, ‘This lady is wacko.’ I found a doctor who finally sat down with me and put all the pieces together.”

She finished third in the 200-meter breaststroke in Mar del Plata in a time that was well behind her American record, but she said the competition was “a good stepping stone for next year.”

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Buenos Aires, Argentina, is one of three cities within the Americas to announce its intention to bid for the 2004 Summer Olympics, along with Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

But the Argentines’ campaign is off to a shaky start with the Pan Am Games, which have been beset by corruption and financial problems. It has been so difficult for athletes and media to find transportation that a private company, Nike, has begun providing vans. And volunteers threatened a work-stoppage when promised meals were not delivered or were inedible.

The organizing committee hoped for help from the country’s president, Carlos Menem, but he has been preoccupied because of the death of his son last week in a helicopter crash.