Karolyi tries to regain golden touch at trials

BOSTON — It was a night of mystery and intrigue, one in which a gray-haired man behind a table drew as much attention as the spinning, tumbling girls on the floor.

When the Olympic trials were over Sunday night, Bela Karolyi had chosen his team, his coach and, as expected, stirred up some good water-cooler conversation for gymnastics fans across the country.

During 12 of the most awkward minutes in sports, Karolyi locked himself into a small room with the other three members of the selection committee. Thirteen gymnasts sat in a room, television cameras fixed on their faces as they awaited their fate.

Then, the answer: 1996 holdovers Dominique Dawes and Amy Chow would go to Sydney, along with national champion Elise Ray, Kristen Maloney, Morgan White and surprising Jamie Dantzscher. Alyssa Beckerman was an alternate.

Shannon Miller and Vanessa Atler would stay home.

"Now that it's over, I believe I was right," Karolyi said. "This was the most disputed, dramatic and beautiful trials we've ever had."

The weighted scores from trials (60 percent) and last month's U.S. Gymnastics Championships (40 percent) were combined to rank the women.

The selection committee, however, wasn't bound by the scores. That allowed Dawes to go, even though she finished seventh and Atler sixth.

That was Karolyi's decision, the true results of which won't be known for four weeks, when the team competes at the Olympics.

But the coach who helped Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton and Kerri Strug win gold — the man lured back to the spotlight after the United States finished last at the World Championships in 1999 — feels good about his decisions.

So, of course, did everyone who was selected.

"I don't think the whole thing has sunk in yet," said White, nicknamed "The Creeper" for the slow, steady progress she has shown the last two years. "I don't know what to feel. I just can't wait to go see my parents."

Chow and Dawes, the first and the last of the Magnificent Seven to return to competition, are the headliners of the team. Both were there in 1996 when the United States won its team gold medal, and both won individual medals.