AREA ATHLETES : GODINA BOWS OUT QUIETLY FORMER BRUIN FAILS TO ADVANCE TO WEDNESDAY'S DISCUS FINAL.Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer John Godina John Carl Godina (born May 31, 1972 in Fort Sill, Oklahoma) is an American shot putter, whose record includes three World Championship wins and two Olympic medals. He also competes in discus. hinted last week that he needed several years to refine his discus technique, which he believes is more exacting than the shot put. ``That's more emotion,'' he said. Monday morning he proved his theory, failing to qualify for the discus finals. Godina - a UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX student who is the first U.S. male athlete to qualify for the shot and discus since 1924 - threw 202 feet, 10 inches to finish 14th overall. (Only 12 advance to the finals.) ``I just had a bad day,'' he said. ``I've been having problems with my technique in practice for the past two weeks. From there, it snowballed. ``I haven't concentrated on (the discus) enough this year. I need to make it more of my life.'' Godina won the shot-put silver medal Friday night. Moving on: Van Nuys' 100 meter gold medalist Gail Devers Yolanda Gail Devers (born November 19, 1966 in Seattle, Washington, USA) is a three-time Olympic 100 m champion in athletics for the US Olympic Team. Devers grew up near National City, CA and graduated from Sweetwater High School in National City, CA. was more successful in her 100-meter hurdles qualifying. She ran 12.73 seconds in the first round and 12.83 in the second to advance to the quarterfinals. Nice nails: The colors range from lime green to candy-apple red on Devers' well-cultivated fingernails. For the 400-meter relay, she'll wrap them in white tape to protect them - and her teammates' hands. ``I've always had long nails,'' Devers said. ``In 1994, when I didn't run (because of injury), I had no reason to cut them. Now people don't want me to cut them. But this is the longest I've ever let them grow.'' The three-inch nails are only a problem on the starting block start·ing block n. 1. Sports a. An apparatus that braces a runner's feet at the start of a race, consisting of two angled supports adjustably mounted on a rigid frame that is usually anchored to the track. b. . Because they curve inward, she can't rest on her fingertips "Fingertips" is a 1963 number-one hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label. Wonder's first hit single, "Fingertips" was the first live, non-studio recording to reach number-one on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in the United States. . So she uses her knuckles instead. Not up to snuff: The U.S. women's eight boat - with Westlake's Amy Fuller and UCLA's Catriona Fallon - and the American water polo water polo, swimming game encompassing features of soccer, football, basketball, and hockey. The object of the game is to maneuver, by head, feet, or hand, a leather-covered ball 27 to 28 in. team, coached by Van Nuys' Rich Corso, are two of the biggest American disappointments of the Olympics. Both were considered gold-medal contenders - the eight boat was the reigning world champion - and neither so much as won bronze. ``The last two days are probably the hardest 2-1/2 days of all our lives,'' Corso said after finishing seventh. ``I think it's easier to coach a team in the gold-medal game than in the five-through-eight field. ``In our country, you're only recognized for one medal.'' And it's not the silver. Bird of pray: The U.S. volleyball team's reserve setter, Jeff Stork Jeffrey ("Jeff") Malcolm Stork (born July 8, 1960 in Longview, Washington) is a former American volleyball player, who was a member of the United States men's national volleyball team that won the gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. of Pepperdine and Topanga Canyon, saw his first action of the Games Saturday night against Brazil after playing integral roles on the '88 and '92 teams. The parents of Stork's teammate, Dan Landry Daniel "Dan" Joseph Landry (born January 15, 1970 in San Diego, California) is a former American volleyball player, who was a member of the United States men's national volleyball team that finished in ninth place at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. , are watching the Games in person. That's not as easy as it sounds. Ed and Janet Landry are Christian missionaries in the Philippines. Landry was reared there, sent a homemade video to American colleges, and made the UCLA team as a walk-on in 1989. Five years later, he was a key to the Bruins' NCAA NCAA abbr. National Collegiate Athletic Association championship. Janet flew stateside state·side adj. 1. Of or in the continental United States. 2. Alaska Of or in the 48 contiguous states of the United States. adv. Informal 1. to see that game in person but only after the family, strapped by a vow of poverty, sold most of its furniture to pay for her flight. No hugs and kisses For the XML format, see . Hugs and Kisses is a term for a sequence of the letters X and O, e.g. XOXO, typically used to express affection or good friendship at the end of a written letter or email. : USC's 6-foot-2, 240-pound hammer-throw gold medalist Balazs Kiss says most people walk to the other side of the street when they see him coming. But Kiss, a Hungarian, has been mugged twice near USC's campus. ``I lived off-campus, and I was going home after an exam. I was pretty relaxed, not paying attention, and these guys approached me with a gun and a knife,'' he said. ``I handed over my wallet and my watch. The second time, I handed over my wallet. I didn't have a watch anymore.'' Tidbits TidBITS is an award-winning electronic newsletter and web site dealing primarily with Apple Computer and Macintosh-related topics. Internet publication TidBITS has been published weekly since April 16, 1990, which makes it one of the longest running Internet publications. : Chatsworth third baseman Troy Glaus is hitting .200 in Olympic pool play. But three of his four hits have been home runs, including a 480-foot blast over the weekend. . . . Woodland Hills' Sheila Cornell established herself as perhaps the world's best hitter in softball pool play, leading the U.S. with a .455 average. She also plays a pretty nifty first base. . . . Ventura canoeist Joseph Harper takes to the whitewaters of Tennessee's Ocoee River today in the 1,000-meter sprints. . . . Chatsworth's Sandra De La Riva and the U.S. women's handball handball Any of a variety games in which a small rubber ball is struck against a wall with the hand or fist. It can be played in a three- or four-walled court or against a single wall by two or four players (in singles or doubles games, respectively). team lost their medal chance with a 30-24 loss to Hungary on Sunday. The best they can do is fifth place. . . . Camarillo's Denny Fercho and the men's handball team were eliminated from medal contention Saturday in a 35-26 loss to Croatia. . . . It's not over for the U.S. men's field hockey team and its six area athletes. After an 0-5 record in pool play, the Americans will participate in the losers' bracket of the medal round. . . . Simi Valley archer Justin Huish is the top seed for the U.S. men's team (and ninth overall) entering today's single-elimination competition. Semifinals and finals are Thursday. Huish, whose nose for publicity is almost as good as his eye for the target, shot 670 of a possible 720 in the ranking round Sunday at Stone Mountain. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Former USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. star Balazs Kiss, center, had more luck a t the Atlanta Games - he won the gold medal in the hammer throw - than he did near the USC campus, where he was twice mugged. Associated Press Chart: KEEPING WATCH OF AREA ATHLETES |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion