GAMES WITHIN GAMES

William Tell, according to legend, sent an arrow through an apple perched atop his son’s head. Olympic archers don’t have quite the same challenge, but it’s close: they must hit a 4-foot-wide target from 70 meters away. The closer to the approximately 4 3/4-inch bull’s-eye, the more points awarded.

Competition will be held in men’s individual, women’s individual, men’s team and women’s team. In the individual events, each of the 64 competitors shoots a 72-arrow preliminary round. All advance to match play, with the highest qualifier facing the lowest, the second-highest against the 63rd, etc. Competitors shoot 18 arrows until the quarterfinals, when they each shoot 12 arrows.

Rules are the same in men’s and women’s individual competitions. The top 16 teams, based on scores from the individual open round, will advance to single-elimination match play. The three team members take turns shooting three arrows in one minute.

Justin Huish of Simi Valley, an individual and team gold medalist at Atlanta in 1996, withdrew from the U.S. team after being charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell. Denise Parker of Salt Lake City, who was the youngest U.S. Olympian at the 1988 Seoul Games at 14 and won a bronze medal in the team competition, ended a two-year retirement and will compete at Sydney. Karen Scavotto of Enfield, Conn., a five-time junior national champion, is the youngest U.S. entrant at 18.

The host nation has won the men’s team event in each of the previous three Olympics, but Australia isn’t considered a top team. The United States, Italy, Korea, France and the Netherlands are expected to vie for medals. South Korea has won each of the three women’s team gold medals, but Italy, Turkey, Germany and China are expected to contend.

Badminton

According to David Wallechinsky’s “The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics,” the 16 feathers atop the shuttlecock--the cork-tipped, leather-covered object that is hit back and forth by players--come from one goose, and usually from the creature’s left wing. That’s because the left is considered stronger, which the feathers must be in order to be attached to an object that flies at speeds of 150 mph on a 44-foot-long court.

Competition is held in men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. The winner must get 15 points, except in women’s singles, when 11 points win. Asian players have dominated since the sport was added to the Olympic program in 1992.

The only American to qualify is Kevin Han of Colorado Springs, Colo. Born in Shanghai, Han emigrated to the United States with his family in 1989 and made his living as a busboy and delivery boy at a Chinese restaurant. He won his first national title in 1994--the same year he got his U.S. citizenship. He lost in the first round of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

Peter Gade Christensen of Denmark and Sun Jun of China, who have dominated the world rankings in recent years, are expected to vie for the men’s gold medal.

Canoeing

There are two types of events: kayaking, in which the competitor paddles with a blade on each end and alternates paddling on the right and left sides, and Canadian canoeing, in which the competitor’s paddle has only one blade.

One person canoes, and kayaks are about 17 feet long, two-person boats are about 21 feet long and the four-person kayaks are about 36 feet long. Canoes are wider and heavier and have no rudder. Canoeists use a single-blade paddle and take a semi-kneeling stance. Kayaks are not as wide as canoes. Kayakers sit and use a double-bladed paddle.

The slalom events are much like slalom ski races. Canoeists must navigate an obstacle course that may include 25 gates, and they must negotiate at least six upstream. Competitors go through each course twice, and the better run in terms of time and penalty points will count. Men compete in 12 events, including pairs and fours, while women compete in only four events, two singles, one pairs and one fours.

Events are held on flatwater and white-water courses. On the white-water course, which will be a natural course, each competitor will negotiate the course twice and both runs will be added to determine the score. All races will be at Penrith Lakes, at the foot of the Blue Mountains and about 25 miles from downtown Sydney.

Numerical suffixes, such as K-1 or C-2, indicate whether the event is for individual, pairs of fours.

Cycling

Two-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, who has helped make Americans aware of a sport that is revered in Europe, hopes to add a gold medal to his resume. He was sixth in the time trial and 12th in the road race in 1996 at Atlanta, two months before he was diagnosed as having testicular cancer that had spread throughout his body.

Armstrong, who crashed head-on into a car during a training ride in late August, suffered a broken vertebra and missed some training but is expected to compete in the 145-mile road race. That’s a sprint compared to the 2,250-mile Tour de France course. However, unlike the large Tour de France teams, road racing teams at Sydney will have only five riders.

Riders will also compete in time trials, where they race against the clock. Armstrong is focusing on the time trial, a race of nearly 29 miles in which riders compete on the road against the clock. The 27-rider U.S. delegation is its largest ever.

Mountain bike racing was added in 1996, also the first time professional riders were allowed to compete. Alison Dunlap of Colorado Springs is ranked second in the world in mountain bike riding and is considered a medal contender after her sixth-place finish in the World Championships this year. Ruthie Matthes of Durango, Colo., is ranked seventh in the world. The top-ranked U.S. man, 49th-ranked Steve Larsen, didn’t make the U.S. team. Tinker Juarez of Downey, 39 and a three-time national champion who finished 19th at Atlanta, was chosen instead, with Travis Brown of Boulder, Colo.

Chris Witty of Park City, Utah, who won a silver medal and a bronze medal in speedskating at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, is trying to become the first American woman to win Olympic medals in the Summer and Winter Games. Witty is expected to compete in the 500-meter time trial.

Jeanne Longo of France, who had won 10 world championships but didn’t win a gold until Atlanta, will defend her road race title. She will be 42 in two weeks and would be the oldest Olympic cycling champion. Felicia Ballanger of France, a five-time world champion sprinter and 1996 gold medal winner in the 1000-meter match sprint, plans to retire after Sydney.

Italy’s Andrea Colinelli, a gold medalist in the men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit at Atlanta, may be banned from returning because of positive results in two doping tests.

Men will compete in 11 events and women in seven.

Equestrian

A close partnership between horse and rider is vital, since points are awarded in the three-day event and the dressage event based on the horse’s obedience in completing jumps and following commands.

The three-day event combines endurance, show jumping and dressage. In dressage, the horse must perform a routine that includes a variety of paces; the horse’s attitude is among the judging criteria. The freestyle dressage final is performed to music. Women compete against men in equestrian events.

Four-time Olympian Robert Dover of Raritan Township, N.J., who won team bronze medals in 1992 and 1996 and is the most decorated U.S. dressage rider, will lead the U.S. dressage team. The show-jumping team will be all women, after Margie Goldstein-Engle of Wellington, Fla., led the field in qualifying.

Abigail Lufkin, a bronze medalist at the Pan Am Games in eventing, lost her usual horse to injury but will compete on another mount. David O’Connor, a 1996 silver medalist in team eventing at Atlanta, will also compete. The United States, New Zealand, Australia and England are top competitors for team medals.

Although the Olympics have been staged in Australia before--Melbourne hosted the Games in 1956--the equestrian events will be contested in Australia for the first time. Because Australia had strict quarantine laws, foreign horses couldn’t enter the country in 1956; the equestrian events were held in Stockholm in June, more than five months before the other events took place.

Fencing

Among the few sports that have been contested in every Olympics since 1896, fencing tests quickness, dexterity and nerve. There are three types of swords: the foil, epee and sabre. However, women compete only in foil and epee.

The foil has a flexible rectangular blade, and fencers may use the point to touch their opponents only between the collar and hips. The epee has a rigid triangular blade which competitors may use to touch on any point of the opponent’s body. The sabre has a flexible train gular blade and a blunt point; touches must be made on the body and above the waist. Touches are registered through a wire that is attached to the sword and runs through the fencer’s outfit. A buzzer sounds and a light illuminates when a hit is recorded.

The winner must have 15 points, and competition is a single-elimination format.

Cliff Bayer of New York is ranked among the top 10 foil fencers in the world and is a medal possibility. A year ago, he won the first World Cup medal ever awarded to an American male fencer. Sisters Felicia and Iris Zimmermann of Rochester, N.Y., both Stanford students, will compete in women’s foil. Iris Zimmermann is the most successful female U.S. fencer, having won a gold at the 1995 under-17 world championships and a bronze at the 1999 senior world championships. However, no American has won a fencing medal since 1984, when Peter Westbrook won a bronze in the sabre competition.

Field Hockey

A cross between ice hockey and soccer, complete with offsides and tie-breaking penalty shootouts--and remarkably fierce play at the elite level. Women have played at the Olympic level only since 1980.

Each team has 10 field players and a goalie, with only the goalies permitted to touch the ball with their hands or bodies. Players dribble the ball with sticks that are flat on one side--the side they must use to strike the ball--and curved on the other.

The field is 100 yards long and 60 yards wide; the goal is seven feet high and 12 feet wide. Fouls such as obstruction, tripping and kicking are penalized by awarding the opposing team a free hit.

The United States didn’t qualify in the men’s or women’s events. The Australian men’s team, known as the Kookaburras, and the women’s team, known as the Hockeyroos, are favored to win. The women won gold at Atlanta in 1996.

Team Handball

Discontinued after its appearance in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as an outdoor sport, team handball was revived as an Olympic sport in 1972 and was brought indoors.

Team handball isn’t well known in the United States, but it has many elements that are familiar to Americans. It combines skills used in soccer and basketball, and all performed at a brisk pace.

Players bring the ball up court by passing and dribbling, but the object is to throw the ball past the goalie and into a net that is nearly 10 feet wide and seven feet high. Players may not enter the goal area, which extends 19 feet 8 inches from the goal, but they may leap toward the goal. Players may also take three steps before and after dribbling, but they can’t hold the ball for more than three seconds without dribbling or passing it.

Games are played in 30-minute halves. Twelve teams are entered in the men’s tournament, and 10 in the women’s. The United States didn’t qualify.

Judo

Judo was invented in Japan in the late 1800s. The word judo means “gentle way” or “giving way,” which seems incongruous in a physical sport. However, discipline and structure are as important as strength, and it’s considered a mental sport too.

Matches are conducted on tatami mats that are about 30 square feet. Men compete in seven weight classes, as do women. Men’s matches last five minutes, but women’s matches last four minutes.

The goal is to score an ippon, or full point. If no full point is scored, the highest score wins. The referee and two judges can break ties by deciding which competitor displayed superiority.

Points can be scored by a variety of holds and throws. Two waza-ari are the equivalent of an ippon.

Jason Morris, who won a silver medal in the half-middleweight class at Barcelona in 1992, will become the first American to compete in four Olympic judo tournaments. Jimmy Pedro, a bronze medalist in the lightweight class at Atlanta, will also return.

Modern Pentathlon

The concept behind this event, as conceived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin--known as the father of the modern Olympics--was to enact a story line of what a soldier would endure in delivering a message during a war. Although a traditional event since it became an Olympic sport in 1912, it was in danger of being eliminated because of dwindling popularity. To increase the drama, the rules were changed in 1996 and all events were contested in one day, instead of over four or five days.

The 16 pentathletes will fire 20 shots with air pistols at a target 10 meters away, fence (epee) for one touch against every other competitor, swim freestyle for 200 meters, compete in showjumping on a horse they drew by lot, and run a 3,000-meter cross-country course. As in the decathlon, they earn points according to a predetermined scale based on performance.

Team competition for men was eliminated after the 1992 Barcelona Games. Women will compete for the first time.

Velizar Iliev and Mary Beth Larsen of San Antonio won gold medals in the men’s and women’s modern pentathlon at the Pan Am Games to qualify for Sydney.

Rowing

Men and women will compete on 2,000-meter courses in water that must be at least 3.5 meters deep (about 11 1/2 feet). Men compete in eight events, and women compete in six.

Races are sculling or sweep events. In sculling, each rower pulls two oars. In sweep events, each rower pulls one oar. In some races, a coxswain calls the strokes for the rower, and the coxswain must weigh at least 121 pounds for men’s races and 110 pounds in women’s races. If they don’t meet those standards, dead weight may be added to the boat.

Rowers compete in qualifying rounds. The fastest advance to the semifinals or finals, and the rest get a second chance in the repechage round. The top six semifinalists advance to the final.

Sailing

With spectacular Sydney Harbour as their backdrop, men and women will compete separately and together in 11 events that will use nine classes of boats.

In the sailboard competition each competitor will use a 12-foot 2-inch Mistral Imco One Design windsurfer with a 7.4-square-meter sail. Finn class competitors (men’s individual) will use a centerboard dinghy and a one-man crew. Boats are assigned randomly.

Women compete in the Europe class, a single-handed dinghy that’s 11 feet long and 99 pounds.

The 49er class will be introduced at Sydney. The Australian-designed yacht is 16 feet and has a large sail--59 square meters. The fiberglass vessel weights 375 pounds. The winner is decided after 16 races, unlike the other classes, in which there are 11 races. The worst score is dropped after one race and the two worst are dropped after nine races. Scores for the last two races can’t be dropped.

Shooting

Another sport that tests military and/or combat skills. Shooters test their nerves, eyes and aim in four categories: pistol, rifle, shotgun and running target.

The rapid-fire pistol event, in which shooters fire at five targets in three rounds with decreasing time limits, requires quickness; the free pistol event--in which shooters have 2 1/2 hours to fire 60 shots, tests patience.

Women and men have competed together in previous Games, but they now have separate competitions. Women will compete in seven events, including trap and skeet shooting. Men will compete in 10 events.

The 17 men and 11 women in the U.S. delegation may bring medals home. Kim Rhode, who won the U.S. shooting team’s only gold medal at Atlanta in the double trap, will return as a medal contender. She will compete in trap and skeet. Josh Lakatos, a 1996 silver medalist in trap, will again compete in that event, and 1996 trap bronze medalist Lance Bade will compete in trap and double trap.

Ralf Schumann of Germany, who won silver at Seoul and gold at Barcelona and Atlanta in the men’s rapid-fire pistol competition, remains the favorite in that event.

Synchronized Swimming

Detractors wonder how it’s possible to respect a sport in which competitors wear gelatin in their hair, but synchronized swimming requires skill, stamina, flair and dedication.

Competition will be held in duet and team categories. The solo event was discontinued after the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Each team will perform a technical routine of between 2 minutes 10 seconds and 2 minutes 30 seconds, as well as a four-minute freestyle routine. Judges grade the technical merit--the execution, synchronization within the team and to the music, and the difficulty of the movements--and the artistic impression. The artistic impression marks take into account choreography, music interpretation and the manner of presentation.

The technical routine is worth 35% of the total score, and the free routine is worth 65%. Judges rate competitors on a scale of 1 to 10. Canadian or American women have won the duet, team and solo gold and silver medals since synchronized swimming became an Olympic sport in 1984. However, Russia is the defending world team champion.

Table Tennis

Pingpong diplomacy, anyone? Competition is held in men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles and women’s doubles. Preliminary-round play is in a round-robin format, but the 16 top-seeded singles players and the top eight doubles duos get byes to the single-elimination draw.

Entrants are determined by world rankings, with the top 20 players automatically qualifying--although no country may send more than two players. The host nation can enter a player and three players qualify in a world qualification tournament. No American has ever finished in the top eight of this sport, which made its Olympic debut in 1988 at Seoul. China has won nine gold medals and 19 medals overall.

Taekwondo

In its first time as a medal sport after twice being held as a demonstration sport, taekwondo will feature four weight classifications for men (128, 150, 176 and over 176 pounds) and four for women (108, 126, 148 and over 148 pounds).

Matches consist of three rounds of three minutes each. Contestants can win by knocking down an opponent for 10 seconds or by winning the most points, which are gained by striking specific areas on the opponent’s body. Those areas--the head, abdomen and sides--are marked on each contestant’s body protectors. Hits below the waist are prohibited. The only permitted strikes are those made by the foot below the ankle or the knuckles of the index and middle fingers. Points are deducted for illegal strikes.

At least one winner has become evident, though she won’t win a medal. Kay Poe, ranked No. 1 in the world in the women’s flyweight class, dislocated her knee during a match at the U.S. trials, shortly before she was scheduled to face close friend Esther Kim in a match that would determine which athlete would represent the U.S. Seeing Poe’s pain, Kim graciously forfeited the match, allowing Poe to make the team. The International Olympic Committee rewarded Kim’s sportsmanship by giving her a free trip to Sydney to watch the Games.

Triathlon

A first-time Olympic sport in a country that loves the event, the triathlon measures endurance and versatility. Competitors start with a 1,500-meter swim in open water, followed by a 40-kilometer cycle ride and a 10,000-meter run.

Swimmers must wear caps and, if the water temperature is below 14 degrees Celsius (about 57 degrees Fahrenheit), they must also wear wetsuits. They must wear helmets while cycling.

The 50 entrants are determined by world ranking, with no nation permitted to send more than three competitors. The first world triathlon championship was held in 1989, making this a relatively new sport on the world scene.

Sheila Taormina of Livonia, Mich., who won a gold medal at Atlanta as a member of the 800-meter freestyle relay swim team, made the triathlon team by winning the U.S. trials. She can become the second woman to win an Olympic gold medal in different events in separate Olympics: The first was Anfisa Rezisova, who won a gold medal in Nordic skiing for the Soviet Union in 1988 and a gold in biathlon in 1992 for the Unified Team.

Jennifer Gutierrez of San Antonio, who was the top U.S. finisher at the Sydney World Cup triathlon, also made the team, as did Joanna Zeiger of Baltimore. The Olympic favorite among the women is Australian Michellie Jones, who lives and trains in the U.S. The top five finishers at the 1999 World Championships were Australians. The men’s favorite is Simon Lessing of Great Britain, a five-time world champion.

The U.S. men aren’t likely to win medals: Hunter Kemper of Longwood, Fla., is ranked 33rd in the world, ahead of Nick Radkewich (55th) and Ryan Bolton (63rd).

Weightlifting

Traditionally a European stronghold, weightlifting has recently seen an influx of successful Chinese competitors. Men will compete in eight classifications, from bantamweight to super-heavyweight, and women will compete in seven classifications, from flyweight to super-heavyweight. Chinese women hold the world records in all seven women’s classes, but no country can send more than four competitors.

Contestants get three attempts at each of two lifts. In snatch, the bar is lifted from the floor above the head in one movement and is held there for two seconds. In the clean and jerk, the weight is brought to chest level and, using strength from the arms and the legs, is raised overhead with arms vertically extended. In case of ties, the lifter with the lower bodyweight wins.

Featherweight Naim Suleymanoglu, a Bulgarian of Turkish descent who competes for Turkey and is a national hero there, has come out of retirement and will try to become the sport’s first four-time gold medalist. Suleymanoglu is known as “Pocket Hercules” for his diminutive size (4 feet 11, 137 3/4 pounds) and remarkable strength. Going to the other extreme, 400-pound Russian Andrei Chemerkin, considered the world’s strongest man, is favored to win his second gold medal in the super-heavyweight division.

Women’s weightlifting will make its debut. Cheryl Haworth, the U.S. record holder in the snatch, clean and jerk and overall weight in the 165 pound-plus class, has a chance at a medal. Haworth, 17, is 5-9 and 308 pounds. She began lifting only four years ago.

Freestyle Wrestling

This isn’t the glitzy, soap-opera style wrestling usually seen on TV. There’s no Hollywood (formerly Hulk) Hogan here. But wrestling remains a strong sport for Americans, who have won 44 gold medals over the years.

The format has changed twice since 1984, but matches will be two rounds of three minutes each. Contestants score points as the result of holds, actions, positions of advantage and near throws; a match will end as the result of a fall or if one wrestler has a 10-point lead. If there are no falls or neither has a 10-point lead, the wrestler with the most points wins, if he has at least three points.

The light flyweight and heavyweight classes have been dropped since 1996, concentrating many top-ranked competitors in the eight remaining classes. Wrestlers compete in eight categories, from 119 1/2 pounds to 220 pounds. There’s a maximum weight of 286 pounds (130 kg) in the super heavyweight class.

Melvin Douglas, who wrestles at 214 pounds, is the only returning member of the 1996 Olympic team. Terry Brands of Iowa City came out of retirement to make the team at 128 pounds and is considered a medal contender.

Greco-Roman Wrestling

It’s not really Greco-Roman, having originated in France in the 19th century. In truth, it was named in tribute to the Greeks and Romans of legend.

The difference between freestyle and Greco-Roman style wrestling is that in Greco-Roman wrestling, contestants cannot use the legs for squeezing, pushing, pressing or lifting an opponent. In addition, no holds are permitted below the hips.

The scoring system is the same as in freestyle wrestling, but wrestlers must go to the mat with their opponent during a takedown.

This style of wrestling isn’t widely practiced in the United States, and heavyweight Rulon Gardner is probably the best American medal hope. The prohibitive favorite is Russian Alexander Karelin, a nine-time world champion and winner of the last three Olympic gold medals in that class. The Siberia native, who is said to appreciate poetry and classical music, hasn’t lost a major match since 1987. His signature move is a reverse body lift, remarkable for its power.

The U.S. team was embroiled in controversy after Matt Lindland and Keith Sieracki, who compete in the 167.5-pound class, feuded over who deserved the lone Olympic berth and went to arbitration and later to court. A federal judge decreed the spot should to go Lindland.