LINDLAND'S LEGACY WILL BE GRASP OF LAW.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

SYDNEY, Australia - Remember Matt Lindland's name. You'll be hearing it long after people have forgotten who defeated the U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler in the 2000 Olympic final in the 167.5-pound weight class.

Lindland might have lost the war Tuesday to Russia's Mourat Kardanov, but he won a battle to get here that you can bet will be fought over and over in the coming quadrenniums.

The 30-year-old from Lincoln, Neb., is to the U.S. Olympic movement what Spencer Haywood was to underclassmen's flight to the NBA, what Andy Messersmith was to baseball free agency, what Alan Bakke was to reverse discrimination.

Lindland lost in the final at the U.S. Trials to Keith Sieracki and appealed the result, arguing that Sieracki had used an illegal leg hold to win the match.

A United States Olympic Committee arbitrator upheld Sieracki's victory. Lindland, undeterred, unleashed his case on the U.S. courts, which ruled in his favor (Sieracki, in a desperate last move, appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court, which upheld the earlier decision).

For months, Lindland and the USOC were like Lindland and Kardanov at the end of the gold-medal match: each was stubbornly holding his ground, but neither was scoring any points.

At length, a wrestle-off was held between Sieracki and Lindland, which Lindland won 8-0. By that point, U.S. wrestling officials could have been forgiven for wishing they had hand-picked their Olympic team the way it is done in most other countries.

Then again, U.S. softball did select its team after a protracted tryout period and still was forced by a federal arbitrator to twice juggle its Olympic roster after three players appealed the selection process.

Welcome to the U.S. Olympic movement in the 21st century, where a top-rate lawyer is the next best thing to a top-rate coach (or, we're finding out, a top-rate pharmacist).

Just to be safe, U.S. Wrestling took two separate Olympic team pictures before shoving off for the Summer Games - one with Lindland in the frame and the other with Sieracki.

Wrestling prides itself on being a family, and sure enough, the world is seeing it here in all its clannish dysfunction. The USOC so wished Lindland would disappear, it left him out of its daily newsletter Tuesday. Early deadlines and all that, we were told.

And yet, asked late Tuesday afternoon what time Lindland was scheduled to wrestle for the gold medal, the USOC camp continued to draw a collective blank. We might as well have been asking when the Swede Mikael Ljungberg was due to compete.

The fact is, the U.S. team is divided into camps, much like the Republicans were in the early months of the presidential primaries.

``There were a lot of emotional highs and lows,'' U.S. wrestling coach Dan Chandler said, alluding to a rift, ``but the team handled it well.''

Lindland had a vocal following for his final. Early in the first half of the six-minute championship match, a rousing chant of ``USA'' started in the stands.

In the second minute, Kardanov got Lindland in a vulnerable position and in a flurry of moves turned him. In a matter of seconds the Russian was ahead 3-0. Lindland managed to lift his Russian opponent off the floor in the fifth minute but couldn't convert his advantage into any points.

``He got on top early when we were dry and I got on top late when we were wet,'' Lindland said later. ``He defended when I tried to turn him.''

Lindland then defended the route he took to these Games.

``Things went the way they did,'' he said. ``I got here because I'm a better wrestler than Keith is.''

Lindland wasn't oblivious to the furor he created. ``I'm sorry I had to get on the team that way,'' he said. ``I don't know if anybody tried to dissuade me, but they sure fought hard. Their position was the winner of the match at the Trials should stand.''

If he's getting any cold shoulders from the U.S. Olympic family, Lindland has enough warmth from his immediate family to get him through the week.

As Lindland spoke to reporters outside the interview room, he was bouncing his daughter Robin, 6, in his arms. His son James, 8, was tugging at the wrestler's sweat pants, his daddy's silver medal wrapped around his neck. Wife Angie stood off to the side, holding Lindland's award bouquet and smiling.

An American Greco-Roman wrestler had never won an Olympic medal in the welterweight division. So Lindland made history at these Games in more ways than one.

``My goal all along was just to get the gold medal,'' Lindland said. ``I just wanted to be the best on one day. I'm the second-best. I came up short.''

He won in court, though, and that's how we're sure he's destined to be remembered.

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Photo: Matt Lindland of the United States lost in a gold medal final but he'll be remembered for his legal battle that got him to the Olympics.

Joe Ross/St. Paul Pioneer Press