Word: medal
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...When the elder Tsukahara and Kasamatsu were competing, Japan was a gymnastics powerhouse that captured the team Olympic gold at each of the Games from 1960 to '76. The pair racked up more than a dozen medals between them. Naoya and Akihiro are competing on a less formidable team that lags behind the dominant Russians and Chinese. Still, Japan's fortunes may finally be changing. At the World Championships in Tianjin, China last year, 23-year-old Tsukahara nabbed the silver in the all-around event. With top Russian gymnast Nikolay Krukov recovering from a pulled Achilles tendon and China...
...pressure is on for the gymnast dynasts. "If they don't medal this time, Japan is going to have to completely rethink its gymnastics program," says Takeo Nakajima, who covers the sport for a Japanese TV network. "We're counting on them." So, no doubt, are their fathers, who hope these rising sons will raise Japan's gymnastics profile once more...
...officials had to scramble to add beds, doubling and tripling up people in rooms. But free travel is not the only reason for the growth of the Games. The International Olympic Committee can't resist adding new events to the already packed schedule. In Atlanta there were 273 medal events on the books, but in Sydney the number has grown to 300 (including such events as trampoline and modern pentathlon). The better part of that growth, though, reflects a commendable effort at involving more women in the Games. Twenty-one women's events including weight lifting, water polo and Taekwondo...
...wanted more than Olympic glory; after his tragically brief showing at Atlanta, where his foot slipped from the pedal, they wanted to cheer him to gold. After being placed on the track with his shoes already attached to the pedals, Kelly started smoothly, but came home to a bronze medal in a time of 1 minutes 2.818 seconds. "I'm just happy to be back on the podium," he said...
...Sept. 16 was almost 3 seconds slower. The silver went to German Stefan Nimke and the gold to Britain's Jason Queally, who set an Olympic record (1:01.609). Queally admitted he had thought himself an outside chance for third: "If I can win a gold medal, I think there's hope for many, many others...