Podkopayeva, Sharipov shine during winning day for Ukraine (08/04/96)

Podkopayeva, Sharipov shine during winning day for Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz

ATLANTA - On a day when Ukraine was winning medals in bunches, it was only proper that Liliya Podkopayeva, Ukraine's brightly shining star, albeit a diminutive one, won herself two more in the women's individual events competition.

On July 29, the 4-foot-9-inch phenom first won a silver on the balance beam, her second medal of the Olympics, and then triumphed in the floor exercise, outperforming a strong group for her second gold medal and third over all.

Not to be outdone, Rustam Sharipov, the young Ukrainian who has supplanted Hryhoriy Misiutin as the team's star after Misiutin's incomplete performance at these Games, won his first gold medal here on the parallel bars. He has remained in Misiutin's shadow even though he won a gold at the Barcelona Olympics in the same event. Sharipov was the best performer among the Ukrainian men, who won a bronze medal in the team event on July 29.

Podkopayeva and Sharipov joined weightlifter Timor Taimazov, who broke the world record in his gold-medal winning performance, and Oleksander Bahach, bronze medalist in the shot put, to give Ukraine a total of five medals on that day alone.

But it was Podkopayeva, who kept frustrating her opposition by raising her performance a notch when needed, who fittingly ended Ukraine's "golden Monday" with a stunning performance in the floor exercise.

Her exercise, a combination of delicate balletic movement, sprightly stepping and strong tumbling, left no doubt that this world champion was the best. The judges gave her a 9.887, which lifted her above a tightly packed field of 9.8 scores. It was the highest score handed out by the judges during these Olympics, Podkopayeva receiving the only two scores of 9.887 the judges awarded.

The women were tremendous on the floor. Dina Kochetkova of Russia, Simona Amanar of Romania, and Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu, both of the United States, scored at least 9.8 in their routines. Moceanu, the sweetheart of the gymnastic crowd, gave a spunky performance. Dawes was strong in her tumbling, Kochetkova gave a very artistic performance, Amanar was consistent. But only Podkopayeva had all of that in her repertoire, and more. Dawes took the bronze and Amanar the silver.

Earlier the 17-year-old had won a silver medal on the balance beam, losing the gold by .037 points to Shannon Miller, who finally got her medal and stopped crying.

Sharipov, the men's gymnast, surprised everyone with his stunning victory on the parallel bars. The most talented of Ukraine's male gymnasts, he had been lacking the flair in his performances needed to capture the judges' attention and points. This time he did both, with a series of double reverse somersaults and a strong landing off the bar that wowed the crowd and the judges, who gave him a score of 9.837. He broke down in tears after the score for Jair Lynch of the United States was announced as 9.825, which gave Sharipov the gold and the American the silver. Vitaliy Scherbo of Belarus took the bronze with a 9.8 score.

Sharipov explained afterward that he had found a focus he had not had in earlier competitions. "I realized that I was not just representing myself, but my country as well." He said he felt more pressure and responded to that.

A third member of Ukraine's team to qualify for the individual events competition, Ihor Korobchynsky, finished seventh in men's vault.

The three medals won by Sharipov and Podkopayeva gave the gymnastics squad a total of five medals, three gold, one silver and one bronze, which was second only to Russia's harvest of three golds, two silver and three bronze.

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