Gymnastics Coach: `There Is No Dignity Here' -- Karolyi Furious After Zmeskal Loses To Miller

BALTIMORE - So much for team unity.

Shannon Miller, the smallest woman in the competition at 4 feet 7 inches, 71 pounds, knocked off world champion Kim Zmeskal for the all-around title in the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics trials yesterday.

It should have been hailed as the upset of the year. Instead, the decision touched off a storm of controversy.

Nobody expected Miller ((79.056 points) to beat Zmeskal (78.916), the three-time U.S. champion who last fall became the first American to win the world all-around title.

Zmeskal's coach, Bela Karolyi, thought she was undermarked by the judges, especially on uneven parallel bars (9.812).

"Kim did win the competition, but they (the judges) brought her down," Karolyi charged. "In Africa or Siberia or anywhere, if you try to diminish the national hero, they will kill you. There is no dignity here."

Karolyi, after arguing nearly every judge's decision, called the whole proceeding "outrageous . . . a very sad moment."

Steve Nunno, who coaches Miller, countered, "Today, Bela has to raise a glass to me."

All in all, it was business as usual for the women's coaches. In other words, what seemed like a well-competed, dramatic final session turned into a circus when official results were announced.

To top things off, Karolyi refused an offer to be head coach of the Olympic women's team.

"I won't accept it," Karolyi said, when a reporter told him that he was the choice of Mike Jacki, executive director of the U.S. Gymnastics Federation.

"I don't want to get into that mess," Karolyi said. "Who is going to take that responsibility? Who is going to work this out without raising the biggest hell? Not for me."

Jacki agreed with Karolyi that Miller didn't deserve to win. Jacki's argument was based on Miller's absence from the U.S. Championships, which counted toward 30 percent of an athlete's score in the trials. But because Miller missed the U.S. Championships with an elbow injury, her score here counted 100 percent.

Zmeskal won yesterday's optional competition, but Miller won Thursday's compulsories and had the overall highest score.

Depending on which official you ask, it was Zmeskal's first defeat in 10 events.

"There is no winner," said Jacki.

Nunno, a former Karolyi assistant, disagreed. "It's ridiculous for him (Jacki) to say something like that," said Nunno. "I'll be darned if someone is going to take this win away from her (Miller)."

Karolyi was livid for other reasons. Though two of his gymnasts made the team - Zmeskal and Kerri Strug - he was upset that Hilary Grivich finished ninth.

Miller, 15, of Edmond, Okla., and Zmeskal will almost assuredly renew their rivalry in Barcelona, Spain during the Olympics. But for now they are merely two of eight women on the training squad that will practice in France next month.

Six will make the final squad.

In addition to Miller and Zmeskal, Strug (78.175), Dominque Dawes (77.908), Michelle Campi (77.860), Kim Kelly (77.801), Wendy Bruce (77.381) - at 19, the oldest member of the squad - and injured Betty Okino qualified for the training squad.

KESWICK KEEPS LEAD -- BALTIMORE - Scott Keswick, a junior at UCLA, won the men's all-around competition in the Olympic gymnastic trials.

Keswick finished with 116.022 points. Chris Waller, who graduated from UCLA last year, was second with 115.200.

They will be joined on the Olympic squad by 1992 national champion John Roethlisberger (114.978), Jair Lynch (114.978), Trent Dimas (114.428), Dominick Minicucci (114.394), and Lance Ringnald (114.098).

NOTES -- BOXING: Light flyweight Eric Griffin, a two-time world champion, overwhelmed Bradley Martinez for the 106-pound championship at the U.S. Olympic trials in Worcester, Mass. Among other winners was 165-pound Chris Byrd, son of Olympic Coach Joe Byrd. Six more finals will be held today. Some trials champions earn Olympic team berths, with box-offs scheduled June 26 and 27 in Phoenix to determine the others.

-- FENCING: Robert Stull of Austin, Texas, won his third national championship, beating Jon Normile of New York 5-6, 5-3, 6-4 in the men's epee gold-medal bout in Dolton, Ill. Stull and Normile will be joined on the U.S. Olympic epee team by Robert Marx of Portland, Ore., and Chris O'Loughlin of Van Nuys, Calif.