Moses Vaults Onto Olympic Diving Team

Melisa Moses decided she would go to the Olympics the day she was forced out of gymnastics by injuries. Eight years later, she earned a trip to the Atlanta Games as a diver.

Moses easily won the 3-meter title in the U.S. Olympic trials Thursday night in Indianapolis, posting a score of 862.53.

Jenny Keim, the national springboard champ, received three perfect scores of 10.0 for a reverse 2 somersault that landed her on the Olympic team at age 18. Keim totaled 823.65 points.

Defending Olympic champion Mark Lenzi showed the effects of a 20-month retirement, finishing fifth in the men’s 3-meter preliminaries with a 433.56 total. Scott Donie won.

Moses, 24, led from start to finish and performed consistently even after Keim’s next-to-last dive earned a standing ovation from the crowd at the Indiana University Natatorium.

She took up diving at 16 after a broken hand and serious neck injury ended her gymnastics dreams.

In the men’s 3-meter preliminaries, Donie, the 1992 Olympic silver medalist on the 10-meter board, took the lead from Panaro after the third of six optional dives. Donie was first with 475.38 points.

Panaro stunned the crowd on his opening dive, a forward 3-1/2 somersault with a 3.1 degree of difficulty, that earned four marks of 9.5 and two 9.0s from the seven judges. Panaro totaled 458.67. “I did two good dives and the rest I just landed on my head as usual,” he said.

All 13 men advanced to today’s 3-meter semifinals.

Winslow gets break

Middle blocker Brett Winslow, who just had a cast taken off his broken right hand, was chosen to the 12-man U.S. Olympic volleyball team by coach Fred Sturm.

If it’s later determined that Winslow won’t be able to compete, he can be replaced on the roster no later than July 5 from a list of six alternates submitted to the USOC.

Winslow broke his hand May 23 when he angrily slammed it into the hardwood floor after being accidentally hit in the face with a ball punched by teammate Dan Landry during an intense scrimmage.

Team USA will be led by a trio of three-time Olympians. Captain and outside hitter Bob Ctvrtlik, outside hitter Scott Fortune and setter Jeff Stork won gold medals in 1988 and bronze medals in 1992.

The women’s team, which won bronze in 1992, also has three three-time Olympians. They are team captain and middle blocker Tammy Liley and outside hitters Paula Weishoff and Caren Kemner.

First-time Olympians are middle blockers Bev Oden and Danielle Scott, and outside hitters Kristin Klein and Elaine Youngs.

Ready, set, dial

Several thousand tickets to the opening and closing ceremonies of the Summer Games go on sale today.

The tickets, which cost $636 apiece, go on sale at 6 a.m. PDT by telephone and through the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games Internet site. There is a limit of two tickets per customer, and a Visa card is the only form of payment accepted.

The events, previously listed as sellouts, opened up after ACOG finalized its seating configuration.

For tickets, call 404-744-1996.

Tough talk

After winning the 400 meters in the track and field trials Wednesday with the third-fastest time in history, Michael Johnson resumes his campaign tonight to become the first man to win that event and the 200 in the same Olympics.

Having earned his place on the U.S. team in the 400 with his 53rd consecutive victory in a final, he is hoping to extend his winning streak in 200 finals to 21 Sunday. First, he has to advance beyond tonight’s first round and Saturday’s quarterfinals and semifinals.

Johnson expects competition from defending Olympic champion Michael Marsh, 1995 World Championships bronze-medalist Jeff Williams and ‘84 Olympic champ Carl Lewis.

Williams, who is from Los Angeles, is confident. Of Johnson, he said, “He’s finished.”

Johnson laughed at those remarks.

“Jeff’s a wonderful runner,” he said. “I think he’s got a great shot to make the team. I think he’s got a terrible shot to beat me. Jeff and I have a good relationship. He’ll get a kick out of reading that.”