Set Patterson free and she'll win the individual all-around title.(The Dallas Morning News) - Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service

Byline: Cathy Harasta

ATHENS _ Finally, Carly Patterson can put Carly Patterson first.

The U.S. women's gymnastics establishment has spent the years since the medals shutout in Sydney drilling the team concept into the heads of youngsters who basically are not in a team sport. OK, let's be rah-rah every four years and pretend it's a team sport.

It's not a team sport, any more than figure skating is a team sport. Get rid of that fallacy, and set Carly free.

Yes, Thursday night in the biggest gymnastics showcase on earth, the Olympic Games, Carly Patterson is free to become an individual Olympic champion.

Here's why she'll win the all-around:

_Not only was Patterson, 16, of Allen, Texas, the top all-around qualifier, but she would have defeated Svetlana Khorkina of Russia for the world all-around title last year had Patterson not been competing on a broken elbow.

_Patterson's weak start on vault in the Athens Olympic team final on Tuesday had a lot to do with the fact that when she led off the night, the 'Go' light already was on before she was in position to signal that she was ready to go. She said she had no idea that she'd have no time to get to the start spot before the light went on. She'll compete third in the vault Thursday night, so the pace of the competition will have been set.

_A less than great outing in the team final will help an athlete with Patterson's will to win. After she won the world all-around silver medal in Anaheim last August, she said she was 'a little mad' to have lost to the legendary Khorkina. Patterson said she got over it quickly when she reminded herself that Khorkina was Patterson's idol and one of the greatest gymnasts of all time. A less-than-spectacular team final, in which the U.S. women finished second to Romania, only gives Patterson more motivation.

'It really was constructive for Carly,' former Olympic coach Bela Karolyi said on Wednesday night. 'The team competition just gave her the practice. She's a fighter. She can do it, and she will do it.'

_Patterson and her team had a strong team preliminary Sunday in a session that began at 1:30 p.m. On Tuesday, the team final began after 9 p.m. Athens time. After a mistake on the uneven bars in the second rotation, Patterson had more than an hour of waiting until her next event. Most U.S. gymnasts' bedtimes are about 9 p.m. Now that she has a late competition under her belt, she is more in the groove for the late start for the all-around.

'I think Carly is fired up right now,' said Evgeny Marchenko, the U.S. team's assistant coach and Patterson's personal coach at the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy in Plano, Texas. 'I think she realized that she didn't start well on Tuesday.'

Yes, she realized that.

'My coach told me that the past is gone,' Patterson said. 'It didn't, like, shake me up. I was just disappointed.'

Bedford, Texas, native Courtney Kupets, who took herself off the balance beam event in the team final because of a sore right leg, also will compete in the all-around. U.S. head coach Kelli Hill said Kupets would make that call. Should she be unable to compete, Mohini Bhardwaj will get a spot in the all-around.

No individual Summer Olympic championship means more than the women's all-around gymnastics title.

Though Romanians qualified second and third in the all-around, with Kupets fourth, Khorkina still is Patterson's most dangerous opponent. Khorkina, No. 5 in the all-around qualifying, had a better team final than Patterson's 37.886 Tuesday. Khorkina also has said this is her final Olympics.

'She has the experience and desire,' Marchenko said. 'She will be a tough contender. She's been a great gymnast for many years.'

True, but now it's Patterson's turn.

___

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