OLYMPIC REPORT / 41 DAYS TO THE GAMES

Mike Dodd and Mike Whitmarsh delivered the most stunning upset so far at the Olympic beach volleyball trials, beating top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes, 15-8, in Baltimore.

Kiraly, who won two gold medals for indoor volleyball, and Steffes must advance through the losers’ bracket to obtain one of the two remaining men’s berths in this summer’s Olympic Games.

On the women’s side, Barbra Fontana Harris and Linda Hanley won both of their matches to clinch their Olympic berth.

Leading, 8-7, in the middle of the match, Dodd and Whitmarsh ripped off five points in a row and seven of eight to advance to today’s Olympic qualification match against Randy Stoklos and Adam Johnson.

“This win is really sweet,” said Dodd, 38. “In a way it’s tough when you beat a guy like Karch who has meant so much to the sport. It’s kind of a double-edged sword.”

Kiraly and Steffes start working through the loser’s bracket with a match today against Carlos Briceno and Jeff Williams.

Fontana Harris and Hanley survived four match points before defeating fourth-seeded Elaine Roque and Dennie Shupryt-Knoop, 16-14, to clinch the Olympic berth.

Sinjin Smith and Carl Henkel have already qualified for the Olympics based on the results from last year’s men’s international tour, as have Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno for the women.

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Shannon Miller fell off the balance beam in her first routine, but recovered with nearly flawless performances in the other three optional events to capture the National Gymnastics Championship in Knoxville, Tenn.

After scoring a 9.3 on the beam, Miller came back with a 9.8 on the vault, a 9.85 on the uneven bars and a 9.9 on the floor exercises to edge Jaycie Phelps by five-hundredths of a point. Dominique Moceanu was third.

“I’ve had competitions before where I’ve had to come back. The fall woke me up and got me going for the next three events,” Miller said.

Miller’s coach, Steven Nunno, said Miller’s experience was the difference.

“If she was feeling sorry for herself at all we were going to have more problems than we were wishing for,” he said.

The top 14 finishers will go to Boston later this month for the Olympic trials. Following Moceanu were Amanda Borden and Kerri Strug.

Other qualifiers included sixth-place Dominique Dawes and seventh-place Kristy Powell.

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Brian McDonough of Winston-Salem, N.C., edged national team member Adam Laurent in the men’s points race to give Team Shaklee its second Olympic berth at the cycling trials in Trexlertown, Pa.

The U.S. national team had hoped to send six of its eight long team cyclists to the Olympics in the four-man team pursuit. But Shaklee’s performance will leave four of them at home.

Marty Nothstein gave the hometown fans something to cheer about when he swept William Clay for the Olympic berth in the 200-meter sprint.

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Alberto Juantorena, a gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal said in Monterrey, Mexico, that Cuban athletes will not be tempted to defect during the Atlanta Olympics.

In recent years, several high-profile Cubans have defected during international sports events.

“We have prepared ourselves very well in the field of sport,” said Juantorena, who is now vice president of the Cuban Olympic Committee. “As for other concerns, we’re not going to pay any attention because we have confidence in our athletes.”

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Michele Smith and Lisa Fernandez each threw a perfect game to lead the U.S. Olympic softball team to exhibition victories in Hazleton, Pa.

Smith struck out 13 of 15 batters in a 9-0 victory over the Drifton Under-18 all-star team in a game called after five innings because of the eight-run rule and Fernandez struck out 14 of 15 as Team USA defeated the Pennsylvania Class A All-Stars, 6-0. The game was called after five innings because of lightning.

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Olympic champion Lindford Christie of England was timed in 10.06 seconds in beating world champion Donovan Bailey of Canada by 0.03 seconds in a dramatic 100-meter sprint in Nuremberg, Germany.

Germany’s Marc Blume was third in 10.13 seconds. Christie and Bailey passed Blume at 60 meters and waged their private duel to the finish.