Fortunes Changing for Romania, U.S.

Rumors of the demise of the Romanian women’s gymnastics program appear to have been premature.

Injuries kept the senior women home from the European championships, but they’re expected to be in top form next week at the World Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.

However, injuries led the U.S. to send a women’s team of four 16-year-olds who have no world championship experience.

At the Massilia Cup competition last week in France, Romania’s Oana Ban won the all-around title and compatriots Andreea Raducan and Sabina Cojocar won gold on the balance beam and floor exercise, respectively. They’re contenders at the world meet, which begins with qualifying rounds on Wednesday. Only individual event titles will be contested; no team or all-around titles are at stake.

The U.S. delegation is Ashley Postell, Terin Humphrey, Courtney Kupets and Samantha Sheehan, who were third, seventh, eighth and 11th in the all-around this year at the U.S. competition. Tasha Schwikert, Tabitha Yim, Katie Heenan and Mohini Bhardwaj, who won team bronze medals last year at the world meet, were hobbled by assorted injuries during the selection camp and were left behind.

The U.S. men, who won a team silver last year, lost Morgan Hamm to an injured ankle. But Sydney Olympian Paul Hamm will compete in floor exercise, pommel horse and high bar and Sean Townsend will defend his world title in the parallel bars. Brett McClure (pommel horse, parallel bars and high bars) and Jeff Johnson (rings) will also compete.

Next year’s World Championships, to be held Aug. 18-24 in Anaheim, will be the qualifying meet for the 2004 Athens Olympics and will decide team, all-around and individual titles.

Not Just Talk

Sprinter Jon Drummond thought he was going to San Diego last weekend to lobby U.S. Olympic Committee officials for more funding for track and field.

Instead, he found himself at a USOC athletes’ summit. The theme was “Riding the Wave to Athens,” and it brought together 60 summer sports athletes to discuss their trials and tribulations as they train for 2004.

After trying a Navy SEALS obstacle course, listening to swimmer Janet Evans and gymnast Peter Vidmar discuss life after sports and rooming with volleyball star Karch Kiraly, Drummond was in awe of everyone -- even the synchronized swimmers.

“I have to eat crow,” said Drummond, who won gold in Sydney as a member of the 400-meter relay team. “I was one of those guys who thought synchronized swimming is not a sport. After trying their workout, I have new respect for them.

“I wish more athletes who have achieved things in their sports would participate in the summits, because they get to share their experiences. I talked to divers. It’s a beautiful thing, but now I understand what they do when they jump off a platform at 35 mph and smack into the water.

“When I go to the Olympics in 2004, I’m going to have a lot of people to root for. These athletes are inspiring.”

According to the USOC, 49% of the athletes who attended pre-Winter Games summits won a medal. Vidmar said he can’t prove a link between the summit and success, but it’s good preparation on many levels.

“We’re not teaching anybody new techniques. That’s between them and their coaches,” Vidmar said. “We just want them to know there are people in the same boat as they are, suffering with them, physically or financially. I wish they had these before I was an Olympian.”

Pooling Resources

The Thetis Cup tournament this weekend in Crete, Greece, is a World Cup warmup for the U.S. women’s national water polo team. Seven of the eight teams in Crete will compete at the World Cup in Perth, Australia, in December.

“This year has been a little easier than last year,” said U.S. Coach Guy Baker, who coached the U.S. women to silver at Sydney. “The year after the Olympics is hard. We’ve got nine people from our Sydney team. Last year was a transition year. This year, with the Olympics getting closer, our focus is more toward the future.”

The U.S. women, minus some of their top college players, lost the tournament opener, 5-4, to Greece on Thursday.

“We’re a little younger than we were at Sydney,” Baker said. “Physically, we’re a much better team.... We’ll be a little off tactically and team chemistry-wise, but we have time between now and Athens to get where we need to be.”

Here and There

Erik Schlopy, entered in two slalom races this weekend in Loveland Basin, Colo., said he had “post-Olympic hangover” after Salt Lake City. The lure of World Cup racing, which starts next week in Park City, jolted him out of it. “For us, the World Cup is just as important as the Olympics,” he said. “The field is even more difficult than the Olympics, and World Cup titles are more of an athlete’s Holy Grail than Olympic gold because it’s proven over the whole season.... We’re skiing our hearts out every weekend, just like NFL players play their hearts out every week.”

Fourteen Southern California youngsters ages 10 to 14 were invited to a USA Luge screening camp at Lake Placid, N.Y., in January. They were chosen based on their participation in a luge clinic in Long Beach in August. If they do well at the screening camp, they could win spots on the U.S. development team.

The Grand Prix figure skating series continues with the Trophee Lalique this weekend in Paris. Skate Canada winner Sasha Cohen is the lone U.S. women’s entry; the only U.S. man is Michael Weiss, who was fifth at Skate America and fourth last weekend at the Bofrost Cup in Germany. At the Bofrost Cup, Santa Monica pair Rena Inoue and John Baldwin finished a commendable fifth in their Grand Prix debut. Amber Corwin of Hermosa Beach moved up from sixth to fifth among the women.... Yebin Mok of Los Angeles was second at the Golden Spin competition in Zagreb, Croatia, last week.

Injured Olympic figure skating gold medalists Alexei Yagudin (hip) and Sarah Hughes (torn leg muscle) committed to pro-am events Dec. 13 in Auburn Hills, Mich., and Dec. 14 in Columbus, Ohio. Hughes hasn’t competed since Salt Lake City; Yagudin withdrew after the short program at Skate America and had tests to allay his fears of a career-ending problem.

Silver medalist Irina Slutskaya is also scheduled to make her season debut at Auburn Hills.