Joining me now, Jim Knob, who unfortunately did not make it past the trials to this event that we'll see tomorrow. And we're going to find out why in just a moment. Also with us, Jim Martinson, who will be competing tomorrow on the Men's 1500 Meter Wheelchair Exhibition. Jim Knob, and I guess I should say A or B, but Jim, what happened in the accident? I know you blew a tire, you flipped it over. What happened? Well, actually I didn't flat. I was heading into the bell lap and the pack was so tight. Our sport is really changing and people are really flying now. We were very close together and I got a little crazy and hit the curb and crashed in my chair. I know, it may be a dumb question of all you've dealt with in your life, but this has to hurt a little bit. How much you were looking forward to it, how much you put into it, how has it affected you? Well, it's a tough thing to handle. It's been kind of a dream of mine to compete in the Olympic Games, you know, from being a pole vaulter. It was something I always wanted. I think basically I'm a road racer and I tried to train down from the marathon to a 1500 meters. And you have some other guys like Jim and a lot of the Europeans that are incredibly fast in this event. Although I'd done really well all year, I was looking forward to it and it was something hard to handle, but now it's just the time to regroup and keep competing. You just sort of swept off the fact that you're a marathoner. I might point out that you won the wheelchair division of the Boston Marathon, what, twice? Yes. I'd say you're a marathoner. Oh, that's right. Jim Martinson, you lost both legs in Vietnam. I think maybe people would like to know, who maybe have not been around handicapped athletes, what it is inside that makes you go for it, makes you come back, makes you want to compete, makes you want to belong. Well, I'm a little bit like Jim. I had a goal in running downhill skiing. I started when I was really young and skied at 12 and my goal was to ski in the Olympics. And that's what I was thinking about and hoping for. I was really excited about it and in 1968 I was drafted into the service and a year later I was in a hospital in Japan with no legs above the knees. And I was frustrated for a couple of years and really didn't know which way to go. There's a tremendous camaraderie I've been around, having worked with the Special Olympics, I'd like to point out this is not Special Olympics, but I've been around these kind of competitions and not only is it really competitive, but there's a camaraderie that develops. You all kind of keep in touch with each other it seems like. Yeah, I think part of that is because our sport is changing so fast and we, unlike maybe some of the other athletes at the Games, we have a definite cause behind our sport and that is to, I think, inspire people and to show them they can actually be more than they are. In the piece we did on you, Jim, you said you just want to be recognized as an athlete, but tomorrow, unfortunately, you won't be there, but a lot of your friends will, Jim Martinson will be there before over 90,000 people, maybe a billion and a half people watching. Yeah, you're competing as athletes, but what is the statement you're trying to say to the world? Well, I think basically that we are athletes and not patients, that we are not only athletes but human beings and we all have something to deal with at one time or other in our lives and this is one way to express that in our lives and that is to compete and for a lot of us, for most of us, I think it's like we have no choice, but we have to be out there and competing. Jim, your statement? I would say the same. One of the things that's really exciting to see is that we've gotten off the society page and we're put on now the sports page and the athletes recognize us as being athletes. It's a little bit difficult for the rest of the world to start pulling us in there, but when they see us running on the track in three forty-eights to three fifty-nines in that time and I even see within a year we'll be faster than that, they're going to say, hey, this is exciting. This is an exciting event. It is exciting. I'm excited about it. Every time I go out on the track and think I'm doing really good, another record is broken so I have to go out and put it together and work even harder. We're going to look forward to seeing it tomorrow and I would advise you not to miss it because for all of you out there, what you will be seeing is the old adage personified that the spirit can conquer the body. We'll be back in a moment. Thank you gentlemen for being with us. Thank you. Hello I'm Donna DeVarona along with Esther Williams who are back at the Olympic pool where yesterday we saw the first gold medal ever awarded in synchronized swimming in the duet competition. Today the preliminaries for the solo event along with the figure scores which took place a few days ago will count for 50% and determine the eighth finalist in placings for Sunday's finals. Here's how they stand from the figure portion as we go into the solo competition. For the United States it's Tracy Ruiz, for Canada, Karen Waldo, for Japan, Miwaka Moriyoshi and for Holland, this woman, Maraiki Ingeland. Maraiki's from Holland, she's finished fifth in the duet competition. The judges are looking in four categories, perfection of strokes and figures, difficulty and variety of music, interpretation of music, synchronization with music. Of course they do not have a partner to synchronize with so the music is what they're focusing on here. Esther, how is this different from the duet? Well Donna, they don't have a partner that they must synchronize with. The music is their partner now and what each lady will do now is show the flair of the spirit, the adventurousness that she has. She can try things she can't do with a partner because she doesn't have to measure herself against another pair of legs right now. The performance, three and a half minutes with 15 seconds leadway on either side of that time limit. What's different from the duet, which was four minutes, was the same time differential. Soloists have to be very strong. They travel the pool more, they use more of the water as their stage. Maraiki Ingeland came into this preliminary routine in fourth place after the figure competition. This preliminary is used for placings in the final and they go into the final, this score is thrown out, they take their figure score with them and their final routine then counts for 50% of the overall score. The music is very important, changes of tempo show the versatility of the swimmer. She's now doing a 360 degree turn, very high out of the water, what we call airborne height. It was a boost that she did and she had no partner to help her do that boost, it's just a strength in her legs. Maraiki is 22 years old, she has been the solo champion in Holland seven times. Very good height but a little wobble to her legs. Maraiki Ingeland from Holland in this solo competition, hoping to get into the finals in fourth place now, we'll be back with more. In the solo competition, Maraiki Ingeland's score was 91.800, that puts her in second place behind Great Britain's Caroline Homeyard for this portion of the routine, Caroline scored 93.000. And we're looking at Japan's Miwako Moriyoshi, she was third place with her partner in the duet competition earlier, she's all Japan's solo and duet champion and at the world championships she finished third place in both the solo and duet, the Japanese have very interesting moves, they're more asymmetrical, their hand movements are exquisite, very fragile and delicate. She rocketed right out of the water, that's a high thrust out of the water, feet first. These ladies are under water for long periods of time, she's been under there a long time. She's using the pool, she doesn't stay stationary and the judges watch for that. There's a piece of apparatus that makes that possible, it's called the nose clip, shutting off the sinuses so they can stand on their heads for a long period of time under water. Their music is so important to them, the transition from under water to surface and there are under water speakers that have perfect clarity for them so that they never lose the sense of their rhythm in their music, very interesting. Here's that asymmetrical move, the soloists have the flair and they play to the audience more, they're all alone, look at that smile, she uses the pool, look at her go with that strong kick under water, ballet, double ballet, oh very high, a boost with a high thrust, traveling down into a swim. She's chosen a dramatic kind of music, is that the young friend that composed for them in the duet competition, Miwako and her partner had music created for them by a 15 year old exceptional student for these Olympic Games. Miwako Moriyoshi, the highest score so far in this competition by Great Britain's Caroline Holmyard, 93.000, Miwako's 23 years old, lives in Osaka, Japan and is working on her masters in physical education, you saw her remove that nose clip, nose clips so important to the accoutrements of this sport, the under water speaker in order to keep her synchronized with the music and that counts for 25% actually, interpretation and synchronization together count for 50% of this routine, if she lost that nose clip she would be responsible for it, often they carry an extra one right in her suit so in the middle of the routine they could pull it out, such a necessary piece of equipment. They only learned that they were competing in this event in May because the International Olympic Committee and the Swimming Federation decided because of the boycott they would add this event and she must be very happy, the Japanese national champion because she's now earned the highest score so far in the solo routine competition in this event, later on coming up is coming into this event the hopeful, the gold medalist in the world championship in 1982 representing the United States and winning already the gold medal in the duet competition Tracy Ruiz, we'll be seeing her later. For the past two weeks we've been looking at places here in Los Angeles like Sunset Strip, Venice Beach, places which are somewhat tourist attractions which evoke laughter and memories of a happier time but there are other places in this town as well such as 19 years ago this summer Los Angeles and several other major US cities were troubled by racial violence and then it was a summer that none of us would forget and one that left an indelible mark on US history especially in Watts. Rita Flynn reports. The summer of 1965 violence explodes in American cities as blacks protest poverty and discrimination. The community of Watts in south central LA is caught up in rioting, looting and burning. Thirty four people are killed, entire city blocks destroyed, the riot area will become known as Charcoal Lally. It lasted only six days yet the legacy of violence has never died, twenty years later Watts still cannot shed the stigma to many Watts is known for little else. Black folks have a different philosophy towards the Watts rebellion than I think most folks do. I think it served a purpose, I'm not so sure that enough folks listened though. I think that it was a part of an entire movement nationwide, a part of a black liberation movement and we're not talking about physical liberation we're talking about a mental type of liberation. Nonetheless the scary thing is that twenty years later those same types of conditions exist. The complexion of the community is changing now from black to Hispanic. Wide spread poverty does exist in certain areas but from the deprivation rises a sense of community. One happy family, like if somebody get in trouble over there we help them, we get in trouble they help us, it's only one unit, together we stand divided we fall. Watts refuses to fall, the community is enticing small business into the very heart of Charcoal Lally. The shopping center is the first built in the area since the 1940's and the health center is an important symbol of progress to the people. Industry employing local people has been established. More and more the money earned in Watts stays in Watts. All of this is evidence of positive change yet the prevailing attitude is that it has been too little. Despite the new look, housing easy to identify by helicopter, evidence is the fear that it might happen again. With all of the positive things that have happened in this community, my feeling about the conditions of blacks across the nation is that we're basically in worse shape now than we have been since the reconstruction period right after the silver war. I see more people in this community that are immobile because of drugs and liquor, they are more broken families, it's more crime because of the economic pressures that exist in a community like this. The loss of talent is unbelievable. We have Olympians and I don't mean just in track and field but we have potential gymnastic Olympians in our community and we see them on the streets and they're break dancing but they don't realize that they're really truly gymnasts and it's another form of gymnastics but they don't know that that world exists and it's for lack of opportunity. That is really the worst loss of all. When you lose that opportunity that you lose what this country is all about. And coming up we'll have more coverage of rhythmic gymnastics, they're using the club, they also use the ball, the hoop and the ribbon so we'll have more coverage of that coming up in a couple of hours. Rhythmic gymnastics you know is a new addition to the Olympics this year, it is a graceful beautiful sport to watch not unlike ballet or some other forms of dance and a few days ago Alexander Gudinoff the former premier dancer of the Soviet Bolshoi Ballet was here in our studio and I talked with him about some of the similarities. You know Alexander many of us look at the moves of a gymnast especially a female gymnast and we see so much of ballet of a ballet dancer. When you look at gymnastics or some sports what do you see? Well I see great deal of discipline and it's the same as the dancers you know you go on stage and you do once you know you cannot stop and say can we have another take yes. So it's same as they are doing now during the Olympics all those numbers they were preparing for years and years and gymnasts they are taking ballet classes so they are doing some other things like lifting weights or push ups and sit ups because once in a while you are dancing with a heavy partner and you need it, you must be strong. Do you lift weights? Yes sometimes yes once in a while yes. What other sports do you do? I swim, I like to swim and I like to ski but I have to wait until I'll stop dancing because it's a bit dangerous. They don't like that I'm sure. How about the training schedules how are they different? The rigorous demands of body and mind? Training you know I would say it's individual because it depends on your own body and because some dancers need more time to warm up before to start to work some come just right away they are warmed by nature or whatever it is same thing I guess sportsmen. Did you ever want to be an athlete? You are in one respect. Sort of yes I don't know I wanted to be a pilot but I ended up with ballet dancers. How do you like this country? I like a lot and I think it's the best country in the world because I traveled a lot and I came from Russia I know what it's all about and I think it's the best country. Do you wish the Soviets were here? Yes because it will give more sense of competition to Americans because they are good in sports. We're back live at the Olympic pool which has been shortened from 50 meters to 30 meters in length for the solo preliminary competition in synchronized swimming Tracy Ruiz has gone into this preliminary with the top figure score it will count for 50 percent overall that will be added to her final performance on Sunday to determine the winner earlier she and her partner Candy Costi became the first synchronized swimmers ever to win an Olympic gold medal Tracy was Hawaiian born the name means beautiful flower an appropriate name for this event Esther yes oh boy handstand into a torpedo and then into an underwater movement rocket split Tracy will be underwater for 55 seconds in this opening maneuver the judges are looking for control definition of movement and in the solo swimmers as opposed to the duet we will be seeing more flair she's completely on her own she has no partner to help her with those airborne weight lifts those boosts those rockets just her own strong legs and her strong arms that are sculling now Tracy has not been beaten in this event in four years she is the reigning world champion she earned that crown in 1982 in Guayaquil Ecuador she finally comes up for air 55 seconds later take a breath Donna personality counts so much in this sport there's a big audience here and she reaches out to it there's a there's a lovely freedom and fluidity in the in the solo she doesn't have to keep checking her partner to make sure that she's in perfect synchronization she the music is is what she's thinking too doing a vertical now to a long slow spin there's a wonderful term called kinesthetic awareness that's knowing exactly where you are at all times underwater how you look the soloists use more pool than the duet swimmers they take stages at work three and a half minutes to execute this performance with 15 seconds lead way on either side Tracy Ruiz on her way to the finals 21 years old you know Esther she's only five feet four inches tall and 117 pounds but she's so defined because she does do weight training and aerobic training and in early season swims anywhere from two to three miles a day to prepare for this event and at least three days a week with jazz and ballet dancing this smart little lady takes off her nose clip all right let's see the slow motion on that rocket thrust high in the air there's nothing but the strength the underwater slow motion now watch her force her body out of the water in that rocket thrust with those strong arms Tracy Ruiz scored the highest ever in synchronized swimming coming into this in her figures in 99467 and she equals that almost in the preliminaries this will be used to determine that was her total score this will be 197667 certainly for Karen Waldo the Canadian the hopeful later on in the afternoon we'll see her this is something to aim for we'll see more rhythmic gymnastics after this and so there she is Tracy Ruiz she said she came into the Olympics hoping for two gold medals the best ever effort in the Olympic Games next up is Alina Dragan from Romania one of the favorites for the gold medal in this competition she's 15 years old now because of the way the meat is organized we never know the score of one performer until someone else has started so let me bring you up to date Julia Stacioli scored a 9.15 and another of the favorites from Spain Marta Bobo scored the highest score so far a 9.6 now comes Alina Dragan as you said Gordon a favorite here for the gold medal she ranked second in Romania only to her teammate she's great flexibility as most of the gymnast she's very tiny almost looks like an artistic gymnast in fact she was taken from artistic gymnast to be a rhythmic gymnast she's too big for artistic she's five feet even 97 pounds much too heavy there's her pre-acrobatic movements with her toss so far she's moving extremely well look at the flexibility lays completely split almost over split split and a chest stand and the music is just as important as the performance it seems here's Sonata and D minor a Beethoven number as you see with the ballet vent she's rolling it over her chest over any part of her body so far her routine is very clean the hoop by the way is a lot more is a lot more difficult to roll over the body and so far Gordon she has done a fabulous routine oh very very nice Alina Dragan from Romania yeah she makes every movement look simple there's her pre-acro there's her chest stand look at the split she's over split I understand that the coach works very hard with him on flexibility almost to the point of tears now this is Hiroki Yamasaki from Japan she's 15 years old five feet even and 94 pounds we'll give you Dragan's score just as soon as we get it I might mention that the apparatus that they use can be in any color except gold silver or bronze the color of the metals and the more colorful the better there's her toss there's a lot of movements on the floor so far and her music taboo taboo her routine is very different it's expressive it's a an original feeling personality look at that back roll over the ball catches it in her stomach very original as I've said here's where you see the expression Cathy the score for Dragan 9.65 Hiroko is very popular in Japan what a unique exercise so far I notice the stripes on the ball it can be solid or stripes change of pace here once again they do have to change hands and the hand movements must be balanced throughout the routine well if they're looking for originality this routine has it well again the leader for this event 9.65 by Dragon of Romania the crowd very receptive to its first look at rhythmic gymnastics in the 84 Olympic Games and we'll be back this is Regina Weber from West Germany we saw her in the world championships about three years ago she's very highly thought of in West Germany we thought she'd retired but she's come back for these Olympic Games if you watch her movements they're very exaggerated lots of body waves does her tosses right at the beginning athletic leaps in fact Regina is probably more athletic than she is lyrical more dynamic routine tall girl five foot eight twenty-one years old there's an original movement each gymnast tries to fit the music and the movements to their own personality they try to create a story and those are called mill circles and now she's getting ready for another toss you see her line them up she should catch them at the end or the thin part of the part of the club there's some male circles oops there's a drop she steps out of bounds the club is out of bounds a tenth for each i think we ought to mention here that there are four judges one superior judge whose score does not count but of the four counting judges the high and the low scores are thrown out the two middle scores are averaged Regina Weber from West Germany i might mention that during competition many times Regina does make mistakes it could be the nervousness because in practice she doesn't seem to make as many mistakes there's the tenth of a point for stepping out and tenth for the club all right here's diana stai chilescu from Bucharest Romania also one of the favorites in the event working with a ribbon and doina has so much skill and difficulty in a routine she looks like the romanians and the bulgarians she moves around she reminds me of a butterfly or a quick moving bird she has quick eye movements and body movements earlier yamasaki scored at 9.30 she makes each move look so easy stepping through the serpents or snakes as they're called she has excellent patterns with the ribbon there's a toss oh there's a big break very unexpected they are so secure most of the time so consistent but that's only a tenth of a point at two at the most to get you back up to date regina beber from west germany also scored a 9.3 look at the pattern of the ribbon they should have five loops or more or very serious in the gym at all times it says she had to run a little bit after that ribbon but not bad it didn't disrupt the flow of the routine doina stai chilescu from romania having problems with her ribbon exercise now in the crowd there she is hectorina zobo romanian gymnast a great one win all right this is marta canton from spain life with 721 pounds marta has a high energy level moves fast and shows excellent expression here's our toss look at the extension of the splits original movements here spins around her legs these are all requirements they have their own originality but all these tosses and spins are just what the judges are looking for remember now regina beber scored a 9.30 interesting movement there where the hoop comes right back to her in a boomerang style as they call it roll across her chest and that's what we're used to seeing a hula hoop movement a little hesitant there on catching the hoop and you can see her moving with both arms now watch this kick in the air there once again originality there's an illusion no big breaks in this routine very nice marta canton from spain here's her legs through the hoop and she tosses it into the air well actually she just has a spin around does a body wave lovely and charm and she spins it with her hand and duena staculescu gets a 9.35 and the crowd sitting quietly now waiting for the score for marta canton and we'll be back for more olympics updating you on the score from the rhythmic gymnastics for marta canton of spain she received a mark of 945 in the hoop competition of course we'll have more coverage coming up later this afternoon you know while records are being broken and gold is being won i talked recently with a gold record breaker of another sort johnny mathis you know him as one of the most successful singers ever what you might not know is that he was an olympic hopeful in the high jump an event that begins today in fact during his athletic prime johnny was competing with another great athlete basketball star bill russell we talked to johnny about what these two athletes got from one another i realized that bill could have been a world-class high jumper or could have been the best high jump in the world in fact i saw bill russell jump seven feet when the world's record was about six feet eight uh but nobody else saw it so uh we had a lot of fun bill and i did he'd show me what uh what he had learned in basketball and i'd show him what i could about high jumping john in 1956 you uh had the best of two worlds really uh the olympic trials were in front of you you had the opportunity for a singing contract we know what you you did but uh can you tell us why well my father was a a wonderful man who who believed a great deal in me uh he was a singer a very good singer uh he played the piano and uh that's how i got involved with with music and he had put a lot of hours in uh on uh just uh getting me ready for perhaps my first break uh as a singer and i really didn't want to disappoint him in any way so during the week that that the olympic trials were being held in berkeley california i got a telegram from uh from new york that said in fact uh could i come to new york to to to record during the same week as as the olympic trials and i of course i had worked hard and and it was a great honor to to to be asked to go to the trials but i mean i i just looked at my father's face when that telegram arrived and he says you know of course you're going aren't you and and of course i i'm happy that i uh that i went it was just such a such a bittersweet moment in my life i just wonder john maybe if they're just a little bit of hindsight you were jumping six five and a half uh i just wondered if you've ever thought about what might have been you never know as you know being an athlete yourself what you're capable of doing when the adrenaline starts going uh i feel that i could have possibly made the team uh but but it was such a risk factor uh that i just couldn't take the chance of of missing out on this big opportunity to make my first recording because that uh that was to me the biggest thing in the world to make a record would you have traded one of your gold records for a gold medal uh yeah i sure would have uh that's i think that's every kid's dream is to is to win a gold a remarkable man that concludes the morning portion of our extensive olympic coverage a reminder we're going to take a little break so that abc can bring you three soap operas all my children you know about jenny she's coming out of it now reaching out for greg that'll be followed by one life to live in general hospital but kathleen and i will be back two hours from now for the afternoon segment of our show and don't disturb kathleen during the soaps you either highlighting this afternoon will be more event coverage including another look at rhythmic gymnastics and we'll have some very special guests for you including superstar singer lino richie will be performing at the closing ceremony performing all night long that's all coming up after the soaps when abc sports coverage of the 1984 olympics continues join us then the games of the 23rd olympia have been brought to you by local mcdonald's restaurants who joined together to build the olympic swim stadium huggies the diapers that help stop leaking sears where you'll find great values there's more for your life at sears and energizer batteries energized for life long life travel arrangements made through in a promotional fee paid by united airlines many united flights are now showing highlights of the 1984 olympic game be sure to join us in two hours when our coverage of the 23rd olympiad continues