Viloria’s Startling Loss Gave Team Jolt of Reality

He is the little big man of the U.S. boxing program, the smallest man on the team who hits harder than the super-heavyweights, packing the most powerful punch on the squad--a Hawaiian punch at that.

Yes, 106-pounder Brian Viloria of Waipahu, Hawaii, is a made-for-NBC Olympic human interest story waiting to happen--cue up the teaser now: Meet America’s Mighty Mouse!--with an asterisk.

(*Still hasn’t qualified for Sydney.)

Viloria, touted as the can’t-miss star of the supposedly revitalized U.S. boxing program, missed in a big way in his first attempt to qualify for the Summer Olympics. Needing to win his semifinal match in an Americas qualifying tournament in Tampa, Fla. last week, Viloria lost to Puerto Rico’s Ivan Calderon, a New York City Golden Gloves champion in 1995-96.

Calderon defeated Viloria, 4-1--his second victory over the American in the last 12 months. Calderon also out-pointed Viloria, 9-5, in a 1999 dual-meet bout.

Viloria’s defeat, in the first bout of Thursday’s semifinal competition, stunned his U.S. teammates, delivering a message that none of them could ignore.

“I went into the bout knowing nothing was going to be given to us,” said Ricardo Juarez, who later qualified in the 125-pound division.

“When Brian lost, that hyped me up,” said Los Angeles’ Jose Navarro, who qualified at 112 pounds.

In all, seven Americans qualified for the Olympics. Joining Juarez and Navarro were Clarence Vinson of Washington at 119 pounds, Marshall Martinez of Fontana at 132 pounds, Ricardo Williams Jr. of Cincinnati at 139 pounds, Jermain Taylor of Little Rock, Ark., at 156 pounds and Jeff Lacy of St. Petersburg, Fla., at 165 pounds.

U.S. Coach Tom Mustin described Viloria’s defeat as “a wake-up call to go out there and box harder.”

It also means at least one more plane flight for Viloria, who now must qualify at a tournament in Mexico City this month or one in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in May.

In Mexico City, Viloria could qualify by winning the 106-pound semifinal. In Buenos Aires, only the individual champion in Viloria’s weight class will qualify.

Viloria, a 1999 world champion, blamed himself for his loss.

“I should have gotten more aggressive,” he said after the fight. “But I can’t take anything away from Calderon. He boxed well.”

Juarez said he was “very much surprised” by Viloria’s defeat. “I look up to Brian,” Juarez added. “He has a style that is unbeatable when he’s at his best. The littlest guy on the team at the same time is the most talented.”

Mustin said he is still hopeful of sending a full team to Sydney, with Americans having qualified in all 12 Olympic weight classes.

“It’s going to be tough,” Mustin said. “But I think we can do it.”

RED CARD FOR VELODROME?

The birth of a Galaxy soccer complex on the Cal State Dominguez Hills campus could mean the demise of a leftover landmark of the 1984 Olympics, one of two sporting venues built specifically for the Los Angeles Summer Games.

According to at least one proposal, the Olympic Velodrome, site of the ’84 cycling competition, would be razed for parking space to accommodate a 30,000-seat stadium for the Galaxy and a potential U.S. Soccer National Training Center.

Not surprisingly, Velodrome officials are none too pleased.

“It’s a historic facility,” says Steve Meiche, executive director of the Southern California Velodrome Assn. “It is one of only two facilities built specifically for the Olympics. One of them was the swimming pool at USC, which was built on the university and is still being used, and the Velodrome. . . .

“I mean, that’s a world-class facility. World competitions can be held on that facility. There’s nothing else like that on the West Coast at all. There are six velodromes on the West Coast and they’re all velodromes that were built back in the early ‘70s that no longer qualify or are acceptable for international competition.

“We lose that, then what does the West Coast have to offer?”

Meiche also points out that the Velodrome was one of the venues listed as part of Los Angeles’ bid package to host the 2012 Summer Olympics.

If the Velodrome is demolished, the Los Angeles bid committee “will have to submit an alternate bid,” Meiche says. “They’re going to have to build a new velodrome, basically, to put in their bid package.”

Since published reports of the soccer stadium plan appeared, Meiche says, “Our phones have been ringing off the hook every day. We’ve got people calling up, spreading the word throughout the cycling community and around the nation. People who have lived here, people who were here during the Olympics, people that don’t even cycle regularly are responding to the news.”

The Velodrome served as the site of five national and international cycling competitions--including the 1991 Olympic Festival--from 1985 to 1991, before new management took over and converted the facility into an entertainment venue, hosting numerous concerts from 1991 to 1998.

Since assuming control of the Velodrome in mid-1998, the Southern California Velodrome Assn. has refurbished the track, hosted the 1999 Collegiate National Championships and has bids planned for the 2001 Elite National Championships and a World Cup event in 2003.

James Lyons, president of Cal State Dominguez Hills, issued a statement last week that read in part:

“This is not an issue of whether we have the space for [a soccer complex]. The university has the land to accommodate a stadium. We can accommodate stadium parking. And, depending on the scale of the project, we may have space for related athletic facilities, and for related retail [facilities] too.

“Nor is this an issue of soccer versus cycling. Both sports are worthy of the earnest and enthusiastic support they have earned from their fans.

“The question is how we choose to use--and how we must use--the acreage we have available.”

Lyons added that the school administration is “entrusted by the residents of Carson and by the citizens of California to be good stewards of their land and money. Those are obligations that we take very seriously. As good neighbors, we cannot do less. . . . The right thing, we are convinced, is to continue discussions with the Los Angeles Galaxy.”

Meiche says he hopes that the Galaxy, “in all fair business, would come up with a contingency plan to mitigate displacement of the cycling community. whether that is setting aside a parcel of land and building a new velodrome or maintaining or doing whatever they can to build around the existing velodrome.”

Sergio del Prado, Galaxy vice president of business affairs, put the controversy in rather pragmatic terms.

“It’s going to be a case of what’s better for the university, what’s better for the public,” del Prado said. “Who’s going to benefit more?

“Is there more of a benefit from the Velodrome or from a soccer stadium? [Cyclists] are great athletes and it’s a great sport, but if we can get 25,000 [fans a game], that’s a little more revenue and usage for that land than what’s currently going on.”

TEEN BEAT

At the Phillips 66 National Swimming Championships in Federal Way, Wash., last week, it was great to be 16 and all wet.

Breaststroker Megan Quann, 16, of Puyallup, Wash., broke her own 100-meter American record Friday, after coming up short in the 200-meter event.

Nonplused by her 200-meter loss to NCAA champion Kristy Kowal Wednesday, Quann flatly predicted, “Friday, I’m going to swim 1:05.49 and break the [100-meter] world record. [South Africa’s Penny Heyns holds that mark, 1:06.52.] Yeah, at the Olympic trials I’m going to go faster than that, and at the Olympics, I’m going to break the world record again.”

Aaron Peirsol, 16, of Irvine, won the men’s 200-meter backstroke final in 1:57.03--a time surpassed by only two other male swimmers, one of them Lenny Krayzelburg, who set the world record last year in 1:55.87.

Asked how he thought Krayzelburg might respond to the news of Peirsol’s fast winning time, Peirsol laughed and said, “He’ll say, ‘I go 1:55--and I did that seven months ago.’ ”

Mark Schubert, Krayzelburg’s coach who was poolside for Peirsol’s victory, begged to differ.

“That’s not what his reaction is going to be,” Schubert said. “His reaction is going to be, ‘I’ve got to get in the pool and work harder.’

“I know that’s what his coach’s reaction is.”

WEEDED OUT

Forty-three million dollars to build a kayak-racing course for the Sydney Olympics . . . and they couldn’t afford a few bottles of weed-killer?

The Australian kayaking championships, held last week on the new course, were interrupted for more than an hour because of a weed problem that had competitors filing protests and workers fishing tangled green clumps out of the water before the event could continue.

Peter Byron, a spokesman for the $42.7-million International Regatta Centre, attributed the weeds to heavy rainfall during the last month and said the water would be treated with herbicide.

“It won’t be a problem during the Games because we are going to install special flood pumps that will redirect storm water from the venue.”