Word: barcelona
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This was not the way the script was supposed to turn out. Dave Johnson and Dan O'Brien, the rival U.S. decathlon stars who have been battling for three years to see who would capture the "world's greatest athlete" laurels in Barcelona, last week met on a rain-soaked track at Azusa Pacific University outside Los Angeles to film a hastily rewritten Reebok shoe ad. As they waited for the cameras to roll, their conversation remained on emotionally safe subjects like new golf clubs. There was no discussion of O'Brien's memorable miss in the pole vault...
That Johnson would even be competing in Barcelona came as a surprise to certain law-enforcement types in Missoula, Mont., where he grew up. Johnson and his friends seemed in training merely to become hoodlums. Johnson half- jokingly explains that his early running from police officers and wrestling with other boys kept him in shape. "He's still got a wild side, a sharp edge," says Franson. "He's a committed risk taker, which is just what you need when a competition comes down to the crunch." Although Johnson made a local all-star baseball team as a pitcher...
...idea O'Brien has involves clearing his opening height in the pole vault. That done, he plans to put up a score that no competitor could top at the Olympics. If Dan sets a new world record, it will still be a small consolation. Dan can settle nothing in Barcelona. Dave can grab the gold...
...real. The young female gymnasts who will vie for medals in Barcelona are among the world's toughest athletes. They are not only strong, powerful and agile, but they also have a discipline, determination and dedication that would put many other athletes to shame. Two times daily, six days weekly, year after year, they labor in airless gymnasiums to master and reinvent the most difficult flips, twists and spins. Often they work in spite of painful strains, sprains and stress fractures. And always they work with the dark knowledge that the slightest bobble or a judge's caprice could mean...
This year the U.S. has produced two of the top picks for all-around gold honors in Barcelona -- an unprecedented American pair at the top. Not surprisingly, both are known for their doggedness and tenacity. Kim Zmeskal of Houston, the reigning world all-around champion, battles persistent pain from a stress fracture in her left wrist and the psychological pressure of being the person everyone else wants to beat. Shannon Miller of Edmond, Okla., who was sidelined in late March with a dislocated left elbow and bone chip, recuperated from surgery in record time, and is now stronger and more...