FINDING PERSPECTIVE AFAR MCCAIN'S FAILURE AT '96 TRIALS, THEN HIS EMOTIONAL ESCAPE TO AFRICA PROVED EYE-OPENING AND CONTINUES TO AFFECT HIS OUTLOOK.

Byline: Rich Hammond Staff Writer

If Stephen McCain couldn't participate in the Olympics, he didn't want anything to do with them.

As thousands of athletes converged on Atlanta four years ago to live out their Olympic dreams, McCain, a talented gymnast in the prime of his career, toured South Africa and separated himself from all reminders of the event.

Any reminder, a newspaper headline or a television commercial, would have brought McCain back to his moment of misery, when a self-described mental lapse caused him to fall from the high bar during the final round of the Olympic Trials.

The split-second slip ended more than a decade of preparation, and McCain felt the only way he could cope was to leave the country. But what started as an escape quickly became a turning point, because somewhere in the African wilderness, McCain found some much-needed perspective.

``It was one of the best times of my life,'' McCain told the Houston Chronicle last month. ``At a time when I should have been down and depressed, I was having the time of my life, meeting people and seeing one of the most beautiful parts of the world. I came back charged up on life.

``Gymnastics is not my life anymore. I used to let things get to me. If I had a mistake, `Oh my God, I'm not going to make it,' and I would crumble. Now, I know that you're going to have mistakes, and I accept that. No one is going to go through the Olympic Trials and have a perfect meet every single day.''

McCain, 26, wasn't perfect at last month's Olympic Trials in Boston, but he was good enough. The former UCLA standout faced his demons, in the same city as the 1996 debacle, and conquered them in the only way possible, by earning a spot on the U.S. team.

The women's gymnastics team gets most of the attention in the United States, and rightfully so, as the men are not expected to medal in Sydney. Even among the men, the focus has been on national champion Blaine Wilson and Morgan and Paul Hamm, the first twins to make the Olympics together.

But none of his teammates have come as far or dealt with as much as McCain, and that's not even taking the 1996 Trials into account.

McCain, who nearly died at age 2 from a viral infection, grew up in Houston and developed an early love for gymnastics while watching the 1984 Olympics. He began training the next year, at age 11, and quickly became a rising star, competing in his first international competition in 1989 at 15.

``He would go up and down the stairs, walking on his hands,'' McCain's 31-year-old sister, Teresa, told the Houston paper. ``One thing we didn't know until years later was that he would get on the roof of our house and jump off it into the pool. He needed to be in a sport like gymnastics. He was a daredevil.''

Such aggressiveness helped McCain graduate a year early from high school and earn a scholarship at UCLA, his dream school since 1984, the year three Bruins led the U.S. to a gold medal and inspired McCain.

McCain excelled with the Bruins and won a national title in the high bar in 1993, but his world collapsed a year later, when UCLA shut down its varsity men's gymnastics program in the name of Title IX equity.

But by 1996, McCain was considered a top candidate to make the Olympic team. Following his disappointing 12th-place finish, due in large part to the high-bar disaster, McCain stayed away from competition for almost a year, but the Africa trip gave him a newfound focus.

McCain returned to Los Angeles to train under former UCLA teammate Doug Macey and won the all-around championship at the 1997 Winter Cup Challenge, his first major event since the Olympics. He overcame a foot injury to finish fifth at the 1998 U.S. Nationals and made the world team in 1999.

And this year, there was no breakdown in Boston, as McCain turned in a solid performance at the trials, and by the luck of the draw, McCain finished his final round on the high bar. Let someone else take the soul- searching trip this year. Stephen McCain is going to the Olympics.

``I learned so much from failure,'' McCain told the Chronicle. ``(It's) about the learning and the struggling, and that is what I will take with me for the rest of my life. You can't buy that.''

STEPHEN MCCAIN

Age: 26

Residence: Colorado Springs 

College: UCLA

Past Olympics: None

Highlights: Finished second on pommel horse, third in floor exercise and fourth all-around at 2000 U.S. Gymnastics Championships . . . writes a gymnastics publication, ``American Gymnast Journal'' . . . competed at '96 U.S. Olympic Trials but did not qualify for team.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo: (1) no caption (Stephen McCain on bar)

(2) no caption (Stephen McCain on rings)

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Box: STEPHEN MCCAIN (see text)