PARASKEVIN-YOUNG SET FOR WHEEL-LIFE ADVENTURE : SPRINT CYCLIST KNOWS INS, OUTS.

Byline: Karen Crouse Orange County Register

Sprint cyclist Connie Paraskevin-Young already has taken her warm-up lap around the Centennial Summer Olympics, using her laptop computer in lieu of a bike. Paraskevin-Young has spent hours cruising the Olympic website on the Internet, poring over biographies of U.S. Olympic team members in other sports and points of interest in and around the host city.

Better early than never. Once the bell laps commence July 24, Paraskevin-Young might as well be at home in Corona del Mar for all the Olympic flavors she will sample.

``Usually as an athlete, you're tucked away,'' Paraskevin-Young said in a telephone interview last week from Eden Prairie, Minn., where she is putting the finishing touches on her pre-Games training. ``You don't really know a lot about what's happening in the other Olympic sports.''

She speaks from experience, having competed in four other Olympics - in speed skating at the Winter Games in 1980 and 1984 and in cycling at the Summer Games in 1988 and 1992. An odyssey that started in Lake Placid, N.Y., will come full circle nearly 1,000 miles away in Atlanta, her experiences interlocked like the five Olympic rings.

``I was thinking about that the other day, how I've kind of gone in a complete circle,'' said Paraskevin-Young, who wasn't talking about the speed skating or cycling ovals.

In wheel life as in real estate, location is everything. If the Centennial Summer Games had been awarded to Greece instead of Georgia, Paraskevin-Young, who turned 35 on Thursday, probably would be a first- or second-time mother instead of a five-time Olympian.

The Olympics being in the U.S. ``made a huge difference,'' Paraskevin-Young said. ``That was one of the reasons I kept going.''

For fuel she had adversity, high octane for athletes. In Barcelona, Paraskevin-Young had been among the favorites in the 1,000-meter match sprint, which requires riders to cover three laps of the track. A drawing takes place beforehand to determine which rider will lead the first lap and riders strategically switch positions thereafter, with the final 200 meters of the bell lap a furious timed sprint to the finish.

The event made its Olympic debut for women in Seoul in 1988. Erika Salumae of Estonia, a good friend and occasional training partner of Paraskevin-Young, won the gold medal, successfully defended her title in Barcelona and will try for a third consecutive victory in Atlanta.

Paraskevin-Young, who was third in Seoul, won her first heat after the qualifying race in Barcelona but was disqualified for interfering with another rider. Relegated to the repechage round by the call that she and many others found highly questionable, Paraskevin-Young was eliminated by eventual silver medalist Annett Neumann of Germany.

``I didn't feel good about the situation in Barcelona,'' said Paraskevin-Young, an 11-time national cycling champion and four-time world champion. ``For me personally, I didn't complete something I had set out to do.

``I considered retiring at that point,'' she added. ``I got back into it because I thought that years from now I'd be kicking myself if I didn't. My goal now is to improve on the medal I got in Seoul.''

There's a race strategy called the ``track stand'' where riders come to a virtual standstill to try to force someone else to take the lead. Paraskevin-Young's recent performances suggest she is not employing that in her match sprint against age. If anything, her pace is quickening as she grows older.

``I surprise myself sometimes,'' said Paraskevin-Young, who beat Christine Witty in consecutive sprints in the best-of-three competition at the U.S. trials in Trexlertown, Pa., in June to earn the single Olympic berth. One of her 200-meter times was a personal best for sea level.

``I am at least in position to definitely be competitive,'' Paraskevin-Young said, her words a window to her unassuming soul.

After the Games, competition will take a back seat to conception.

``Obviously, children will become a priority,'' said Paraskevin-Young, who can hear her biological stopwatch ticking.

She realized just how long she and her husband Roger, who doubles as her coach, have put off starting a family during a recent training ride. A 16-year-old in the group remarked that he was still in a crib when the Youngs were married in 1986 after a seven-year courtship. That set Paraskevin-Young to thinking, ``We could be this kid's parents!''

Her offspring don't have to excel in two sports like their mother, but Paraskevin-Young hopes they'll participate in one.

``I would probably die if my kids did not enjoy sports of some kind,'' Paraskevin-Young said. ``There's so much good that can come out of athletics. It's not just about winning. It's about training and setting goals and seeing if you can reach them. Those are the things I'm going to miss.''