WORLD SCENE : Dizzy or Not, Clark Won’t Quit Now

Standing on a platform high above the pool, Mary Ellen Clark was feeling dizzy. It first happened in 1988 when the graceful 10-meter platform diver was competing for Ohio State.

The second time it happened, she went to a doctor and was told she suffered from benign positional vertigo, not considered a serious problem. So she kept diving, which might have been a mistake.

“I’m standing at 33 feet, not in balance, attempting multiple somersaults and twisting. . . . entering the water at 30 m.p.h.,” Clark said. “It’s something I would not do again.”

That is why Clark, 32, skipped this month’s Pan American Games in Argentina although it was most likely her third and last chance to compete in the event.

Instead of diving, Clark had a medical procedure performed to correct an inner ear problem that causes the vertigo. She had it done three times because it failed to work the first two.

“This has all made me think, is this a bigger sign?” Clark asked. “Should I retire?”

She knows the answer. Clark, the 1992 bronze medalist in Barcelona, wants to culminate her career in Atlanta in 1996.

“I have made a commitment, and for me, I’ve been in it for 25 years, I want to finish it on my terms,” she said.

But after seeing ear, nose and throat specialists, neurologists and physical therapists, Clark, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., still is not sure what the problem is, or whether she can continue.

“It’s driving me nuts not having the opportunity to do what I want to do,” she said.

Clark is training away from the pool, and has used the time off to start a telemarketing business.

“People think I should be over it by now,” she said. “(But) at times, I feel a little bit spacey.”

And that’s a bad feeling on a high dive.

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Not only did the U.S. baseball team in the Pan Am Games not advance to the medal round for the first time, it finished 10th in a 10-team tournament. The only game it did not lose was a rainout against Guatemala.

USA Baseball was in a difficult position because it could not use professionals and most college teams had other commitments. One that didn’t, St. John’s, was deemed the best choice available.

But the Red Storm’s performance did not make the U.S. Olympic Committee happy. “There must have been a better way,” U.S. delegation head Sandra Baldwin said of the selection process.

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Germany plans to become the first country to introduce an extensive program of random blood tests during training in a bid to catch athletes who cheat with performance-enhancing drugs. It is expensive, but perhaps the most effective method of drug testing. Ulrich Feldhoff, German sports federation vice president, said about 20,000 annual tests are planned.

“The credibility of top-class sport is on the line at the moment,” Feldhoff told Reuters news agency. “The situation is critical.”

World Scene Notes

German sports officials are investigating new allegations of widespread drug use. Hans Evers, head of the anti-drug commission of the German Sports Federation, declined to name any athletes being investigated, and said it will be several months before officials can go public. . . . San Antonio sent representatives to Argentina to explore the possibility of bidding for a future Pan American Games. Houston also might be interested. The site for the 2003 Games will be decided in 1998.

With urging from the Caribbean countries, U.S. Olympic Committee President LeRoy Walker might become a candidate to run against Mexico’s Mario Vasquez Rana for Pan American Sports Organization president. . . . With Mexico City having relinquished track and field’s 1997 World Championships, Helsinki, Rome and a South African City, either Cape Town or Durban, have expressed interest in staging them.

Meeting in Orlando next month, the USOC might decide the immediate future of the U.S. Olympic Festival. Having already voted to have two instead of three Festivals between 1997 and ‘99, the USOC might reduce it to one or cancel it entirely. Money saved would be distributed to the governing bodies for the sports involved. . . . Some of the world’s best figure skaters, including Oksana Baiul, Nicole Bobek, Michelle Kwan, Chen Lu and Todd Eldredge, will compete in the Hershey’s Kisses International Challenge on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Sports Arena.

Times staff writer Randy Harvey contributed to this column.