RINGS LEADERS

Top 10 things you already know about the Sydney Olympics:

1. Marion Jones will be there, trying to win one gold medal for every Olympic ring.

2. Michael Johnson will also be there, trying to double Down Under.

3. Maurice Greene will race against Johnson in a rabidly awaited 200-meter final, except by the time NBC gets around to showing it, you will already know that Johnson has won.

4. Greene will get his gold medal in the 100, because if he doesn’t, running mate/training partner/quote-on-demand Ato Boldon will. And if that happens, Greene will never hear the end of it.

5. The Australians are totally psyched about the swim competition because they say swimming is their national pastime, but that’s only because Aussie rules football didn’t make it on the 2000 Olympic menu.

6. Neither did cricket.

7. Trampoline gymnastics, however, did.

8. This year’s “Dream Team,” minus Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Allen Iverson, is in violation of strict Australian truth-in-advertising laws.

9. Women’s soccer. U.S. vs. China. Brandi Chastain in a sports bra. Suddenly, last summer, all over again.

10. If Sydney bid organizers hadn’t dumped a couple of 11th-hour “donations” into the coffers of a couple of African “sports federations” on the eve of the 2000 site vote, we likely would be talking about the Beijing Olympics.

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Top 10 things you might not know about the Sydney Olympics now, but will before the Games are through, so you might as well get a 100-day jump on it:

1. Ian Thorpe, “Swimmer of the Century”

Granted, those are the words of Australian swim coach Don Talbot, no weakling when it comes to the Olympic sport of superlative-tossing. And we can’t be sure which calendar Talbot is going by, so we don’t know if he means the 21st century--which means waiting 99 years to see if he is right--or the 20th century, which shoves Thorpe a bit prematurely into the same end of the pool as Mark Spitz, Matt Biondi and Janet Evans.

Either way, Talbot is impressed with the 17-year-old swimmer with the size 17 feet known maniacally in his home country as “Thorpedo.”

At last month’s Australian Olympic trials, Thorpe set three world records in as many days, bringing his 10-month total to nine. His specialties are the 200- and 400-meter freestyle, and, including relays, is considered a legitimate threat for four gold medals.

How fast is Thorpe?

In a recent television commercial airing in Australia, Thorpe can be seen, through the miracle of computer imaging and editing, in the water “racing” a seal. It’s pure science fiction, but at the Australian trials, one Japanese journalist, believing anything with Thorpe was feasible, had to ask if his new body-length swimsuit had given him the confidence he needed to beat the seal.

Only humans will be pitted against Thorpe in Sydney. And at 200 and 400 meters, the rest of the human race appears to be battling for the freestyle silver medals.

2. Susie O’Neill, Madame Butterfly 2000

O’Neill brought home the Holy Grail last month, finally chasing down the oldest swimming world record on the books--Mary T. Meagher’s 1981 200-meter mark of 2:05.96.

When O’Neill swam 2:05.81 at the Australian Olympic trials, she concluded a personal six-year quest that began in 1994 when, at 20, she began a 200-fly winning streak that took her to titles at the Atlanta Olympics, the world championships and the Pan Pacific Games.

The streak figures to continue through the Sydney Games, although O’Neill is glad she took care of the record in advance of the opening ceremony.

“World records don’t often fall at the Olympics,” she says. “You tighten up a bit.”

O’Neill is the point woman on an Aussie swim team Talbot believes could be the country’s “greatest ever . . . This team has set a benchmark now for the world.”

3. Damn the Thorpedo, Lenny Krayzelburg Is Full Speed Ahead

Australia awaits the American swim team the same way Los Angeles girds for the arrival of the Indiana Pacers. Never mind what happens on the track; what the host country cares most about are the results of the U.S.-Australia swimming showdown.

The United States enters the fray with some familiar old veterans--Amy Van Dyken, Jenny Thompson, Tom Dolan--and an irrepressible young gun from Studio City (by way of Odessa, Ukraine) named Lenny Krayzelburg.

Born in the former Soviet Union, Krayzelburg and his family moved to Los Angeles in 1989, with hopes of escaping anti-Semitism in their native country and a firm if wide-eyed belief in the American Dream. They settled in Los Angeles, with Krayzelburg taking the bus to swim practice, and by 1997, he was breaking American backstroke records.

Now a U.S. citizen with a 1998 degree from USC, Krayzelburg owns three world records in the backstroke--at 50, 100 and 200 meters--and is favored to become the first swimmer to sweep the Olympic backstroke events since 1984.

4. Hicham El Guerrouj Will End His Four-Year Crusade to Stay on Two Feet

Morocco’s El Guerrouj is the greatest middle-distance runner in history--he has world records at 1,500 meters, 2,000 meters and the mile--and has lost only one 1,500-meter race since the 1996 Olympics.

Yet he will arrive in Sydney searching for his first Olympic medal because of his fall on the final lap of the 1,500-meter final at the Atlanta Games.

Until then, El Guerrouj and his longtime rival, Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, had been locked in a classic duel. But as the runners entered the final lap, El Guerrouj clipped the back of Morceli’s heel and tumbled to the track, buried by the other competitors running by him.

El Guerrouj never finished the race and has lived with the memory ever since.

“It was the black point of my life,” he says.

Now 27, El Guerrouj gets a second chance in September, this time as the prohibitive favorite in the 1,500 meters. He set the world record in the event (3:26) in July 1998 before pulverizing the mile world record last July in a head-shaking time of 3:43.13.

5. Tomas Dvorak, Now Co-Starring in “The Dan and Tomas Show”

Dan O’Brien’s dominance of the decathlon ended last year, with injuries keeping O’Brien on the sideline and watching idly while Dvorak eclipsed his world record.

Dvorak, who took the bronze medal to O’Brien’s gold in Atlanta in 1996, broke the American’s seven-year-old record by 103 points when he scored 8,994 at the European Cup in Prague last July--including personal bests in five of the 10 events.

O’Brien has since announced his intentions of reclaiming the record and becoming the first to surpass 9,000 points. But he is no longer the favorite in the decathlon--not with Dvorak, a four-time Czech national champion, having won the 1997 and 1999 world titles.

Another factor lengthening O’Brien’s odds: He turns 34 in July. Dvorak is 28.

6. Stacy Dragila, Ready to Stake Her Claim in the Pole Vault

Among the activities making their Olympic debut is one immensely popular new attraction that involves scantily clad women being catapulted 14, 15 feet into the air while the crowd below roars its approval.

More commonly referred to as the women’s pole vault, the event is so new that world records weren’t kept until 1995--with its first outdoor world championship awarded in 1999, to Dragila, a 29-year-old former goat-roper from Auburn, Calif.

Dragila has dominated the sport in its infancy, setting the indoor and outdoor world records, with sights set on becoming the first woman to vault 16 feet.

NBC will be with her every step of the way. Unable to resist a resume that includes a rodeo background, a former career as a part-time restaurant hostess and a pet dog named Sydney, the network is determined to make Dragila a household name.

7. “Hawaiian Punch” Will Get a Sales Boost From Brian Viloria

He’s small, he hits like a miniature jackhammer, he’s a gold-medal boxing favorite who was born in Waipahu, Hawaii--so, of course, Brian Viloria carries the nickname “Hawaiian Punch” into the ring with him.

Not particularly original, Viloria sheepishly points out, but he’s stuck with it. It figures to follow him throughout the Olympic boxing tournament, which he is expected to win, competing in the light-flyweight division.

Viloria, 18, is the smallest boxer on the U.S. team--106 pounds and listed, rather generously, at 5 feet 7. Yet he hits harder than anyone on the squad. In 1999, the top two U.S. boxers in each weight class took turns hitting a heavy bag hooked up to electronic sensors measuring the force of each punch.

The highest score that could be registered on the gauge was 674.

“Brian went over the limit,” U.S. Coach Tom Mustin says.

Viloria, the 1999 world champion in his weight class, took up boxing at 6 to protect himself against his younger but larger brother, who “kept taking my toys.” Tired of hearing his tiny son whine about the abuse, Viloria’s father handed him a pair of boxing gloves. The Viloria family hasn’t had to worry about little Brian defending himself ever since.

8. Svetlana Khorkina Will Try to Make the Jump From Playboy to Sports Illustrated

This year’s favorite for the women’s gymnastics gold medal is no pony-tailed pixie hugging a teddy bear as she prepares to patter down the vault runway.

Khorkina, who won four gold medals at this year’s European Championships, is 21 (ancient by elite gymnastics standards), 5-5 (behemoth by elite gymnastics standards) and experienced in front of the cameras of Russian Playboy (nothing short of scandalous by elite gymnastics standards).

Khorkina’s topless magazine photos created a stir in her native Russia, although the gymnast refused to apologize for them. Instead, she shrugged off the controversy, claiming her parents were impressed by the artistry of the photography, and went on to win the all-around championship and the team title--as well as individual gold medals on the uneven bars and balance beam--at the recent European Championships.

A 1997 all-around world champion, Khorkina should wage a provocative battle with Russian teammate Yelena Produnova--she’s the one with the pierced navel--for the gold medal in Sydney.

9. This Time, Ivan Ivankov Gets a Ride Back From the Doctor’s Office

Ivankov was supposed to have won the all-around men’s gymnastics gold medal four years ago. Heading into Atlanta, Ivankov had all the credentials: a world title in 1994, European championships in ’94 and ’96.

Days before the ’96 Olympics, however, he complained of a sore Achilles’ tendon and scheduled a doctor’s appointment. Cleared by the doctor, Ivankov left the office, began walking home--and promptly tore the troublesome Achilles.

Ivankov was forced to watch on the sideline as his Belarus team placed a disappointing fourth in Atlanta. He then began the arduous process of rehabilitation, culminating in another world title in 1997.

Once romantically linked with Khorkina, Ivankov could share something else with her in Sydney: the top level of the medals podium.

10. Bodysuits for Everyone

These will be the strangest-looking Summer Games yet, with swimmers dressed more like speedskaters and sprinters outfitted as if they were Olympians from outer space.

Speedo’s controversial “Fastskin” neck-to-ankle swimsuit has already been worn in competition and approved, after some legal haggling, by FINA, the international governing body of the sport.

At the Prefontaine Classic later this month, Nike will unveil its full-body running suit for track athletes--the multi-fabric “Swift Suit,” complete with optional hood.

In the never-ending pursuit of aerodynamic perfection, however, the scientists and the lab technicians may be sacrificing too much from the aesthetics standpoint. When the “Fastskin” suits made their debut in Australia earlier this year, many in media complained that the technology had robbed swimming of its sex appeal.

Mike Colman, writing for Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, said he looked at a photograph of an Australian Olympic swimmer wearing a “Fastskin” and “couldn’t pick whether it was Grant Hackett or Michael Klim so I read the caption. It was Susie O’Neill.”

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All Eyes on Sydney

With 100 days to go to the Sydney Games, a look at the schedule of events leading to the Opening Ceremonies:

JUNE

* 7: 100 Days to Go; 8: Olympic Torch Arrives in Australia Northern Territory; 13-18: Basketball Test Event--World Slam DownUnder, Sydney SuperDome, Sydney Olympic Park; 23: Olympic Day; 17-24: Water Polo Test Event--Women’s 6 Team Challenge Ryde, Aquatic Leisure Centre.

JULY

* 2: 75 Days to Go; 10: Paralympic 100 Days to Go Quilt Auction; 12-13: Paralympic Week; 27: 50 Days to Go.

AUGUST

* 16-20: Athletics Test Event--Australian Selection Trials, Olympic Stadium, Sydney Olympic Park; 21: 25 Days to Go.

SEPTEMBER

* 15: Opening Ceremony, Olympic Stadium, Sydney.