VENUS IS SIMPLY OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Byline: DOUG KRIKORIAN

SYDNEY, Australia - Marion Jones might win her five gold medals. Michael Johnson might establish a new world record in the 400 meters. Maurice Greene might turn out to be the earth's fastest human being. And Pieter van den Hoogenband and Ian Thorpe might already have pushed each other to dizzying heights.

But I saw the most dominant athlete in the XXVII Olympics on Tuesday night when I observed Venus Williams make Slovakia's Henrieta Nagyova her 27th consecutive victim, 6-2, 6-2 at the New South Wales Tennis Centre.

No doubt she's the best women's tennis player in the world, as she proved last summer by beating Lindsay Davenport for the Wimbledon title and proved again a couple of weeks ago by beating Davenport for the U.S. Open title.

And she'll continue to prove her mastery of the game in her first Olympics - I'll brazenly pick her to win the gold medal - because she's now playing at a level unmatched in sports with the notable exception of Tiger Woods.

She is a mere 20 years old and she has a sweet voice and a soft smile, when she isn't on the tennis court dismantling opponents with a methodical efficiency.

She is 6-foot-2 and 160 pounds, but the weight is distributed so tightly on her muscled anatomy that she elicited whistles from the crowd when she took off her warm-up jacket and revealed her cardinal-and-gold, tight-fitting, two-piece outfit.

``Well, I guess they thought I was good-looking,'' said Williams with a smile after her 53-minute demolition of Nagyova.

She was in a glad mood even though she was forced to play her match at the ungodly time of 10:15 p.m., not exactly a start befitting one of her exalted status.

``I once played a match that late before at the Australian Open,'' she said. ``It's no big thing. I had no trouble being focused because I've made a commitment to be here, so mentally I was ready to compete.''

And, oh, did Venus Williams compete, bounding around the court making extraordinary returns with her incredibly quick reflexes and long arms, slamming her powerful serves by her bewildered foe, converting her backhand and forehand shots with almost a cloying consistency.

``How have you gotten so good?'' a reporter wanted to know afterward.

``I think it's my attitude,'' answered the native of Compton. ``I was always a great player and a great athlete and a good person. But it was just my attitude that has improved more than anything.''

``How much better can you become?'' another journalist wanted to know.

Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis and the others will cringe when they hear Venus Williams' answer.

``I think there's a lot of room for improvement,'' she said. ``I think because I'm so athletic I can just keep on improving throughout my whole career. I think a good example of that was Martina Navratilova. She just transcended tennis as far as coming into one era and going into another and just getting better. Martina was a great athlete and so am I.''

Venus Williams is staying at a suburban hotel here with her mother, sister Serena and another sister - her father is absent - but she hasn't ventured out of it because of her burgeoning fame.

``I'm kind of afraid to go into the city, because there might be a lot of people,'' she said.

Even at the Olympic opening ceremonies last Friday night, she was mobbed by many of the different nations' athletes seeking her autograph.

Still, with success, there has come the inevitable criticism. The one-time enfant terrible of the sport, John McEnroe, of all people, recently chided her and Serena in an article in a London newspaper, claiming they had no respect for anyone in tennis.

``You know, I don't know John McEnroe,'' she said when someone brought up the subject. ``So I find it difficult to form an opinion on someone that I don't know and I find it difficult that he has formed an opinion on myself and my sister seeing he doesn't even know us.''

Another reporter wondered if Venus Williams' outspokenness - she's not bashful about reciting her athletic virtues - was the problem. It was nearing midnight and it would have been understandable if Venus Williams had ignored the question, or answered angrily.

Instead, she smiled and said, ``I think because I'm honest all the time in my answers that some people can't handle it. I guess you can't always tell the truth. People don't like to hear the truth. I think I've always been a nice person and pretty positive on everything and everyone. It just seems people are always knocking me and my sister and my dad, for one reason or another. So in a world full of negatives, sometimes it's nice to have something positive.''

And a huge positive for Venus Williams these days is playing tennis and being a part of the Olympics.

``Winning the Olympic gold to me is just as big as winning a Grand Slam tournament,'' she said. ``When you see all these athletes trying their best and then breaking out in tears when they win gold medals, it makes you want to win a gold medal yourself. And that's what I plan to do.''