For Edwards, Medal Is What Matters

Not only because it will be her 32nd birthday would it be nice for the U.S. Olympic team to select Teresa Edwards as its flag bearer for the opening ceremony here July 19. Above all other reasons, she deserves it as the first woman basketball player to play in four Olympics. It also would be a gesture to the residents of the host city because she is one of them.

Do not, however, expect Edwards to nominate herself. If elected, she will serve. But that is the extent of her enthusiasm for the honor.

“Really, I’m not caught up in it,” she said during a visit home last week. The 39-0 U.S. national team was taking a break before going to Australia for a 10-day tournament that begins next week.

“If you ask me, I’ll do it. If you don’t, you won’t upset me. I’ve been in three Olympics, and I can’t name one person who’s carried the flag.”

Edwards, the U.S. team’s starting point guard, has only one goal. She wants to win back the gold medal. Her teams won the Olympic title in 1984 and ’88 but finished third in 1992.

In her pursuit, she has appointed herself as the team’s conscience.

“I can become angry at them about the slightest little things,” she said. “But I know these things can cost you the gold medal.”

Teammate Lisa Leslie, formerly of USC, said that the U.S. players have too much respect for Edwards to resent her.

“She’s been to the Olympics three times,” Leslie said. “Of course, she knows what she’s talking about.”

The player who has had Edwards in her ear the most is Rebecca Lobo, the 1995 college player of the year at Connecticut who had difficulty adjusting to the higher level of play demanded internationally. Now, it is almost certain she will remain when the 12-woman Olympic roster is announced in mid-June.

“I busted her chops every day,” Edwards said. “But she had to get better or give it up. The experience could have shattered her. But it didn’t. That’s how I know she’s going to be a great player some day.”

Footnote: The U.S. flag bearers for the last three Summer Olympics were hammer thrower Ed Burke in 1984, sprinter Evelyn Ashford in ’88 and distance runner Francie Larrieu-Smith in ’92.

FACTOID

Although the torch relay has its roots in ancient Greece, where messengers traveled the country to announce the truce accompanying the Olympics, it did not become part of the modern Olympics until the Berlin Games of 1936.

NEWSMAKER

After winning 14 of 21 beach volleyball tournaments and becoming No. 1 in the world last year, Nancy Reno split from Holly McPeak to play with Karolyn Kirby. But Reno and McPeak reconciled in time to earn the automatic U.S. berth in the Olympics.

Now, after a ninth place-finish in a recent tournament, Reno has split again to play with Kirby. Reno and McPeak say they plan to get back together in time for the Olympics. But if they don’t, the United States will lose its automatic berth and be left with two teams in the Olympics instead of three. Those two will be determined in the trials in June.

“Basically, what she’s saying is, she doesn’t believe in my game,” McPeak said. “When somebody doesn’t want to be out on the court with you, you can feel it.”

In her first tournament with new partner Lisa Arce, McPeak was a winner Sunday in Puerto Rico. Reno and Kirby finished fourth. But, according to the rules, McPeak and Reno cannot play in the Olympics unless they are teammates. That seems more troubling to McPeak than Reno, who has criticized the commercialization of the Games.

“A lot of what she does doesn’t make sense to me,” McPeak said. “It seems immature. We need to sit down and get on the same page.”

LAUREL WREATH

To honor two recently deceased track stars from the schools, UCLA and USC have added two open races, the Benny Brown Memorial 400 and the Kevin Williams Memorial 110-meter hurdles, to the annual dual meet Saturday at Drake Stadium in Westwood. Among open athletes competing are Greg Foster and Robert Reading in the hurdles and Quincy Watts in the 400.

THORN WREATH

According to London’s Daily Telegraph, the U.S. Olympic men’s field hockey coach, Jon Clark, included in his resume for the U.S. Field Hockey Assn. that he was a member of Great Britain’s bronze-medal field hockey team in 1984 and that he played 147 games for the national team. In fact, the Telegraph reported, Clark was not on the Olympic team in Los Angeles and played only 15 games for the national team.

THIS WEEK

Lance Armstrong, the only automatic U.S. qualifier in road cycling for the Olympics because he is in 11th place in the World Cup standings, defends his title in the Tour DuPont. The 1,207-mile race begins Wednesday in Wilmington, Del., and ends May 12 in Marietta, Ga.

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Olympic Scene Notes

Gymnast Kim Zmeskal, the former all-around world champion from Houston and 1992 Olympian, has given up her comeback. “Having to qualify for all the events was just too much for her,” Coach Bela Karolyi said. Karolyi’s star, 14-year-old national champion Dominique Moceanu of Houston, has recovered from a bruised heel and will return to competition May 17-18 at the U.S. Classic in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Basketball Coach Lenny Wilkens said that he might have three different starting lineups for the Olympics and might occasionally use the Triple Towers of Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal at the same time. . . . Jim Scherr, USA Wrestling’s executive director, is spending less time in the office. He is attempting a comeback, at 34, in the 180.5-pound freestyle division. He was a semifinalist in Saturday’s national championships.

Among the candidates for the U.S. men’s team handball squad to be named this week is Chris Havlicek, son of former Boston Celtic John Havlicek. . . . Fred Honebein, a member of the U.S. men’s eight from Laguna Niguel, should be recovered from last week’s emergency appendectomy in time to row in the Olympics. He was U.S. Rowing’s male athlete of the year in 1995.