And the winners are . . . gymnastics picks coming to your NBC dial.(The Dallas Morning News) - Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Byline: Cathy Harasta

NEW WAVERLY, Texas _ The suspense ends Sunday. The word will come on a multi-purpose ranch dotted with cabins, cattle and the best-equipped gyms that money, experience and technology could provide.

Six in a field of 14 athletes will find out they made the U.S. women's Olympic gymnastics team during a live announcement on NBC at 6:45 p.m. CDT. Three others will earn alternate status for August's Athens Games. And five will come up empty.

'We're going to be at home, right in front of the TV,' said Lee Ann Vise, the mother of world champion Hollie Vise, 16, of Dallas. 'It's so weird because it's been (gymnastics) all these years since she was 3 years old. When she comes back in the door of our house, her life will be changed, one way or the other.'

The road to Athens for this team had to rival Jason and the Argonauts' epic quest for the golden fleece of yore. The nation's women gymnasts didn't get to the Final 14 in one or even two steps. The U.S. Championships and the Olympic Trials last month merely set up the decisive five-day selection camp that ends Sunday at the Karolyi ranch _ home of the national women's gymnastics team training center.

Driving the need for the three-stage selection process were the sport's injury factor and the change in the Olympic competition format since the 2000 Games.

'The most important thing is for the girls to be healthy,' said Evgeny Marchenko, who coaches Athens hopefuls Vise and world champion Carly Patterson at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano. 'We've done everything we could possibly do until this moment.'

This 'moment' is all about each gymnast's physical and mental readiness. In 2000, U.S. Olympic gymnastics team member Morgan White showed up in Sydney more injured than officials had expected, leading her to scratch and causing a scramble to fly in an alternate. This time, the post-Trials camp offers an additional evaluation opportunity to try to avoid another Sydney scene.

Gymnastics is famous for its culture of pain and code of silence. But this is not news. Almost every young woman who has wriggled into a leotard has been hurt and has wrestled with how much to tell her coaches.

When asked about injuries (and all of these gymnasts have been asked repeatedly in this Olympic stretch run), the athletes point out that a person could suffer harm while walking the dog, sitting too close to the TV set or picking wild flowers.

Those who survive the final cut will be in top form. They also will have demonstrated the stamina sought by the selection committee, headed by national team coordinator Martha Karolyi.

'We're dealing with a sport with a high difficulty level,' said Karolyi, who will be joined by athlete representative Larissa Fontaine and international elite committee chair Roe Kreutzer on the selection committee.

In the Athens Olympics scoring format, just three athletes from each nation compete on each apparatus in the team final, with all three scores counting, hence no margin for error.

In Sydney, five competed in each event, with four scores counting.

The new format emphasizes that a team must have the right combination of all-around gymnasts and event specialists. USA Gymnastics officials wanted a selection saga with as many chances as possible to compute which six athletes could produce the optimal team score. The camp includes a meet-style competition Sunday.

Those who make the team will have something grand to show for the years of training and injuries. But for those whose names don't get called, the concept of pain might assume a deeper meaning.

HANDICAPPING THE FINAL 14

Name . . . Odds . . . Comment

Courtney Kupets . . . 3-5 . . . Odds-on favorite by virtue of her top finish at the trials. She would have to lose a lot of ground to get bounced.

Courtney McCool . . . 2-1 . . . Trials runner-up improved consistency. She all but nailed a berth, and would have to show up out of shape to lose it.

Carly Patterson . . . 3-1 . . . She won't make same mistakes on the beam as she did at the trials; has the best shot at the Olympic all-around title.

Terin Humphrey . . . 5-1 . . . She has plenty of experience. Her floor exercise's choreography has appealing elements. She was third in the all-around at the nationals.

Hollie Vise . . . 8-1 . . . She is trying to make the team as an event special on the balance beam and the uneven bars; recovering from a back injury. Vise and Chellsie Memmel will compete for the same spot.

Chellsie Memmel . . . 10-1 . . . In roughly the same boat as Vise; Memmel broke a bone in her foot in April. Unlike Vise, Memmel did not compete in any events at the trials. Memmel and Vise are cabin-mates at the camp.

Mohini Bhardwaj . . . 12-1 . . . Her powerful vault and amazing comeback after retiring have endeared her to the experts and the fans; sponsored by actress Pamela Anderson.

Allyse Ishino . . . 13-1 . . . Gaining confidence and showing more polished skills every outing; could claim the fourth all-around spot behind Kupets, McCool and Patterson.

Tasha Schwikert . . . 14-1 . . . The only holdover from the Sydney Olympics could put everything together at the camp. Or not. She would need Humphrey and Ishino to falter.

Annia Hatch . . . 16-1 . . . Won the vault at the U.S. Championships but could have helped herself with a stronger overall showing at the trials; lost ground to Bhardwaj.

Liz Tricase . . . 20-1 . . . Could help the team on the vault; lacks experience competing outside of North America.

Carly Janiga . . . 30-1 . . . She brings freshness and potential, but has not made the rounds of international meets.

Nicole Harris . . . 50-1 . . . Had her injury petition accepted for the camp; tied for third on the balance beam at the U.S. Championships last month.

Marcia Newby . . . 75-1 . . . Had her injury petition accepted for the camp; had strong results as a junior; finished ninth in the all-around at the 2003 U.S. Championships.

RECENT OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS FORMATS

1988 Seoul Olympics _

Six gymnasts per team, with all six competing on each event and the five top scores counting toward the team final. The same format applied to the team prelims and final.

1992 Barcelona Olympics _

(Same as for Seoul). Six gymnasts per team, with all six competing on each event and five top scores counting toward the team final The same format applied to the team prelims and final.

1996 Atlanta Olympics _

Seven gymnasts per team, with six competing on each event and the top five scores counting; format applied to the team prelims and final.

2000 Sydney Olympics _

Six gymnasts per team, with five competing on each event and the top four scores counting; format applied to the team prelims and final.

2004 Athens Olympics _

Team preliminaries will use the same format as Sydney (6-5-4) but in the team final, just three gymnasts will compete on each event, with all three scores counting (6-3-3). No scores are dropped. The number of teams competing in the team final has been increased from six to eight.

OLYMPIC RINGS

WHAT A COUNTRY!

Alistair Cragg will compete at the Irish Nationals starting Saturday, marking his first visit to Ireland. Though Cragg, 24, never has set foot in Ireland, he will represent Ireland in the 5,000 meters at the Athens Olympics. He is a native of South Africa who competed for the University of Arkansas. Cragg called upon his dual citizenship _ his maternal grandparents were Irish _ to qualify for Ireland's team.

FORMER AGGIE MAKES

JAMAICA'S OLYMPIC TEAM

Former Texas A&M four-time All-America Chris Pinnock will represent Jamaica in the 110-meter hurdles at the Athens Olympics. Pinnock, who attended Skyline High School, continued to train with the Aggies after he finished his college career in 2003.

CHALLENGE ON A LIGHTER NOTE

Greece faces major challenges related to the staggering Athens Olympics costs and security concerns. A power outage hit the nation on Monday. And temperatures above 100 degrees have strained some resources. But another predicament for Games organizers is how to keep details of the opening ceremony secret when 8,000 volunteers are involved.

CALENDAR

Sunday: Conclusion of Track and Field Olympic Trials, Sacramento, Calif.

Sunday: Conclusion of U.S. Women's Olympic Gymnastics Team's final selection camp, New Waverly, Texas.

Aug. 13: Athens Olympics opening ceremony

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PHOTO (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099):

Hollie Vise

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