AMERICANS FINISH ATOP CHARTS ATHLETES' EFFORTS NOT MARRED BY DOPING SCANDALS.

Byline: Paul Oberjuerge Staff Writer

ATHENS, Greece - The oft-maligned U.S. Olympic Committee was feeling good about itself Sunday, and two numbers were at the root of the self-congratulatory mood.

--103: the number of medals the chart-topping American athletes won at the Athens Olympics.

--0: the number of American athletes to test positive here, so far, for doping.

``This will go down as one of the greatest performances ever by a U.S. Olympic team,'' said Jim Scherr, USOC chief executive.

Herman Frazier, chef-de-mission for the U.S. team, said: ``Our goal was to achieve 100 medals, and that was a total team effort.''

The U.S. has finished atop the medals table at three consecutive Olympics, and its total here beat both Sydney 2000 (97) and Atlanta 1996 (101) - though the 36 golds here lagged behind Sydney (40) and Atlanta (44).

``It is getting extremely difficult to get a gold medal in the Games,'' Scherr said. ``China, Russia, Japan, Australia and many other nations field strong teams across the spectrum. ... And the former Soviet Union is fielding 12 teams which are becoming more and more competitive.''

As recently as Seoul 1988, the U.S. was a distant third on the medals table, behind the former Soviet Union and East Germany.

On a public-relations front, avoiding new doping scandals in the wake of the BALCO mess was nearly as satisfying as getting to the podium. As of Sunday, 22 athletes from other countries had been sanctioned here.

Seven top-three finishers were stripped of their medals.

Successes by American Olympians such as swimmer Michael Phelps, gymnast Carly Patterson, sprinter Justin Gatlin and the women's softball, soccer and basketball teams went undimmed by drug revelations of the sort that distracted and distressed countries such as Hungary and host Greece.

``We're very proud no U.S. athletes have been involved in positive drug tests here,'' Scherr said. ``I think it shows that the USOC and its federations are serious about doping.''

Doping cases among U.S. sprinters dominated headlines in the run-up to Athens. Absent from these games were Tim Montgomery, Kelli White, Chryste Gaines and Torri Edwards - all former world or Olympic champions.

``We wanted to show that sprint athletes don't have to take drugs to be successful,'' said Gatlin, who was involved in three of the 11 medals won by U.S. sprinters.

The USOC also hailed its athletes for being on their best behavior. No rooms were trashed (Nagano 1998) and no one acted like fools on the podium (Sydney 2000). Scherr said: ``They were great citizens of the Village, the city of Athens and the world ... in what sometimes were difficult circumstances.''

USOC officials often chide journalists for keeping track of the medals standings while overlooking stories of gutsy also-rans. But it was Scherr himself who promptly had a statement on the USOC Web site Saturday night celebrating medal No. 100.

The athletes also were aware of the century target, which the USOC hadn't publicly disclosed until Sunday.

``I know I was No. 98,'' tae kwon do gold-medalist Steven Lopez said.

The men's basketball team won medal No. 100, a bronze.

Phelps was the greatest individual American success story. He fell short in his pursuit of Mark Spitz's record of seven golds in one Olympics but matched the Olympic record by winning eight medals at a single Games.

Phelps won six gold medals and two bronze in a display of swimming excellence perhaps unmatched in Olympic history. He won gold in both medleys (which utilize all four strokes), and two butterfly events. He took a bronze in a bold challenge of Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband in the 200 freestyle, which turned into the biggest event of the swim meet.

He also won two golds and a bronze in relay events. Spitz's seven golds came in four individual events and three relays.

Gymnasts Paul Hamm and Patterson distinguished themselves by winning the prestigious individual all-around and by leading their teams to silver. Each left Athens with three medals.

Hamm's dramatic all-around gold has been sullied, however, by a scoring controversy still percolating as the Games ended.

Gatlin upstaged a batch of better-known sprinters in the track meet and gained the Olympic designation of World's Fastest Human by winning the 100 in a rapid 9.85 seconds. He won silver in the sprint relay and bronze in the 200.

Shawn Crawford led a U.S. sweep in the men's 200, and Jeremy Wariner headed a U.S. sweep in the 400 to becoming the first white American to win a sprint gold since 1952.

The U.S. women's teams made names for themselves as well.

The softball team, led by Lisa Fernandez and Crystl Bustos, dominated its competition by outscoring it 51-1 while winning nine consecutive games.

The women's basketball team, led by Lisa Leslie, won its third consecutive gold, and Mia Hamm and the women's soccer team regained gold with a dramatic, extra-time victory over Brazil.

The USOC enjoyed less-heralded successes in wrestling (six medals, including gold by Cael Sanderson); equestrian (five medals), cycling (four medals, gold by Tyler Hamilton in the time trial), shooting (three medals, gold by Kim Rhode in the double-trap); and in fencing (two medals, including the first gold in 20 years).

Swimming (28), track (25) and gymnastics (nine) accounted for 62 of the 103 U.S. medals.

The 2004 U.S. team had disappointing performances, too.

Topping the list is the men's basketball team, 12 guys from the NBA who lost three times here and were lucky to escape with the bronze.

Marion Jones was flat in the long jump, finishing fifth, and was in the middle of the baton-passing disaster in the women's sprint relay.

The five-medal heroine of Sydney was a harassed and tearful failure here.

U.S. divers, dominant during the Greg Louganis era, belly-flopped, failing to win a medal for the first time in Olympic history.

The U.S. boxing team was as inept as any assembled in modern Olympic history. It settled for Andre Ward's light-heavyweight gold and a bronze. Both volleyball teams disappointed, as did both water polo squads, though the women rallied for bronze.

Then there were vast tracts of the Olympic landscape where the U.S. was a cipher, or nearly so, including judo, table tennis, badminton, canoe/kayak, weightlifting and the aforementioned diving.

Rising Olympic power China, which hosts the 2008 Games in Beijing, won 33 medals in those disciplines, to the U.S.'s one (in judo). Many Olympic onlookers expect China to top the medals table four years hence.

Also, the U.S. failed even to qualify in team handball, field hockey, baseball and men's soccer.

Scherr said the USOC spent $480 million in this quadrennium, and says more money will be required for the U.S. to field an equally successful team in Beijing.

Paul Oberjuerge, [phone]

paul.oberjuerge(at)sbsun.com