Golf Takes Shot, but Again Can’t Make It Off Tee

International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, received a visit last week from golfer Seve Ballesteros, who was not there to work with fellow Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch on his short game. Samaranch is a tennis player. Ballesteros was there to lobby the IOC president on behalf of golf as an Olympic sport in time for the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, Australia.

Samaranch was not encouraging. The IOC allowed Sydney officials to add two sports to the program. They chose triathlon and taekwondo. Richard Palfreyman, organizing committee spokesman, said that golf was not considered.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games sought to include golf this summer. The IOC was receptive to the sport but balked over the course, Augusta National, which would not have been appropriate because of its history of excluding blacks and women.

Anita DeFrantz, an IOC executive board member from Los Angeles, said that, despite golf’s almost worldwide appeal, she does not believe the sport will be included in the Olympics in the foreseeable future.

“Among the professionals, when this came up for Atlanta, there was a mixed response,” she said. “Those against it felt they already had enough major events.”

FACTOID

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games reports that about 40,000 people per day log on to its Internet site, htpp://www.atlanta.olympic.org/.

NEWSMAKER

Eric Osborn, a USC men’s volunteer assistant coach, was crying two weeks ago after failing twice to reach the qualifying standard in the 50-meter freestyle for the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Indianapolis. Then he had a thought.

“I realized something that I loved was over,” said Osborn, 27, who took a year off from medical school to train for the trials. “I’ve got to try again.”

Osborn’s brother ran to the parking lot and asked an official to return to the pool. It would be Osborn’s 13th attempt since December to reach the cutoff of 23.39 seconds.

On his third try of the morning, his ninth in two weeks, Osborn swam 23.38 and will be among the Americans vying for an Olympic berth in today’s 50 freestyle.

“It was a lesson in persistence,” said Osborn, who finished 16th at the 1988 U.S. trials.

Osborn completed three years of medical school at Columbia University with an Army scholarship. He then lobbied the service to give him a year off to compete. He was activated in September through the service’s world-class athlete program.

“My orders read: ‘Train for the Olympics,’ ” Osborn said.

LAUREL WREATH

Janet Evans, who will swim in Atlanta in her third Olympics, minced no words in her criticism of U.S. Swimming’s decision to allow Jessica Foschi to continue competing despite a positive steroid test. Evans said she is “ashamed and embarrassed to represent an organization that can’t stand up for what it believes in.”

THORN WREATH

As deserving as Shawn Kemp, Mitch Richmond and Jason Kidd might be for berths on Dream Team III, basketball worldwide would have been better served by Magic Johnson. With just a little encouragement from USA Basketball, Johnson would not have withdrawn his name last week from consideration. Instead, the governing body froze him out with its disinterest.

THIS WEEK

In a sneak preview of the U.S. diving trials in June, more than 30 Olympic hopefuls will compete Saturday and Sunday in Rockville, Md. Divers in four events will compete for $15,000 in prize money.

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Olympic Scene Notes

The U.S. women’s basketball team opened play Friday in a round-robin tournament in China with an 89-75 victory over Cuba, which also will be the United States’ opening opponent in Atlanta. On Saturday, the United States, led by Lisa Leslie’s 20 points, beat 1992 Olympic silver-medalist China, 80-68. Sheryl Swoopes missed the trip after suffering a concussion in practice. . . . Rebecca Lobo, player of the year in women’s college basketball last season for Connecticut, is over her head as a member of the U.S. team. But she remains its most marketable player. Swing magazine recently named her as one of United States’ Most Powerful Twentysomethings, and Spalding is about to market a Rebecca Lobo signature ball. The only other woman ever to have her own ball was Nancy Lieberman-Cline.

Edgar Padilla and Carmelo Travieso, the starting back court for the University of Massachusetts, have been asked to try out for the Puerto Rican Olympic team. They were both born in Puerto Rico on May 9, 1975. “I think we have a good chance to make the team,” said Travieso, who has lived in Boston since he was 4. Travieso also holds citizenship in the Dominican Republic because his parents were born there.

Defending Olympic 400-meter champion Quincy Watts ran the fastest leg for a team that set the Cromwell Field record of 3:05.22 in the 1,600-meter relay Saturday. Others on the team were Bryan Krill, Udeme Ekpeyong and Brian Bridgewater. Watts was supposed to run the open 400 but chose not to because of a slight hamstring injury suffered 10 days ago. . . . The U.S. men’s water polo team won two of three games in a recent series against Russia in Florida. Chris Humbert scored nine goals in the three games for the United States.

Olympic documents from the Bill Henry Room will be on display from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday in the Mary Norton Clapp Library Lecture Hall at Occidental College. . . . Heavyweight boxer Lamon Brewster of Los Angeles skipped the recent national championships but still qualified for next month’s Olympic trials by winning last week’s USA Boxing Western Olympic trials.

U.S. weightlifting officials have asked the International Olympic Committee to allow them to enter competitors in all 10 weight classifications in Atlanta because of the United States’ status as host country. So far, the United States has earned three berths. The International Weightlifting Federation supports the request. . . . Nancy Navalta of the Philippines was considered Asia’s most promising woman sprinter until recent gender tests indicated that she is a man. Navalta has competed as both but wants to be considered a woman.

Recognizing French and English as the official languages of the Olympic movement, Atlanta’s organizing committee promised to have 1,500 French speakers on board for the Olympics. So far, French sports daily L’Equipe reports, the number is about 200.

Times staff writers Elliott Almond and Maryann Hudson contributed to this story.