COMBAT WITH SPEARS

THE JAVELIN

When Kathy Schmidt's parents first recognized their young daughter's exceptional athletic ability, they nurtured visions of raising a smashing tennis player or a power-hitting golfer. But always one to play her own game, Schmidt picked up a javelin at 13 and has not put it down since. In 1972, when she was 18, she threw 200 ft. 6 in. for an American record, the first of many that she set--and broke. The latest (218 ft. 3 in.) came last month at the A.A.U. championships in Los Angeles, where she outthrew her closest competitor by nearly 15 ft. The U.S. Olympic trials showed that the women's track and field team is substantially stronger than had originally been thought, but its best hope for a gold medal still rests in the hands, and arm, of California's Kathy Schmidt. (At Munich, the U.S. women won no golds; not since Mildred McDaniel took the high jump at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics has a U.S. woman won a field event.)

The hope may rest too much on that one arm. Because Schmidt is weak on technique and her approach run is slow, she has to compensate with her fast arm movement and astonishing power. Pro Shotputter Brian Oldfield calls her "all arm. If she gets some speed, she'll hit 240 ft." No devotee of training--she chain-smokes Tareyton 100s and quaffs beer with true zeal--Schmidt will check in at Montreal at 6 ft. 1 in. and 178 Ibs., some 10 Ibs. heavier than she would like --the excess due more to weightlifting than beverages. Schmidt also will take to Montreal not only her immense desire to win, but her elan, something that her archfoe lacks.

East Germany's Ruth Fuchs is the world-record holder (she set a new mark of 226 ft. 9 in. just last Saturday) and gold medalist at Munich, where Schmidt won a bronze. Although Fuchs, 29, has been having the usual youth-v. -age difficulties--Teammate Sabine Sebrowski recently beat her--she is at her peak for Montreal. The compactly built (5 ft. 6 1/2 in., 155 Ibs.) blonde from the village of Egeln is determined to bring home the gold again, not for herself this time but "for the people who pay the taxes that enable me to compete." A Communist Party member since 1972 and honorary delegate to the ninth East German party congress last May, Fuchs is an enthusiastic supporter of the East German sports system, which allows her "to go to the stadium and train without putting a single pfennig on the table." Once motivated by ego, Fuchs says winning is now "a political matter."

In many ways, Schmidt and Fuchs are the kind of opponents who bring an extra element of excitement to Olympic competition: athletes perfectly matched in skill yet diametrically opposed in style and temperament. Fuchs, the consummate technician who has spent most of the past two years in a training camp run by a government to which she is outspokenly committed. Schmidt, the power thrower who trains haphazardly and who recently quit the U.C.L.A. track team to protest the firing of the women's coach. The two have one thing in common. The loser will not complain about her coach--Schmidt because she does not have one, Fuchs because she is convinced that East German coaches are the world's best.

And they probably share another trait: the ability to ignore each other. "I must maintain the loose attitude I have now," says Schmidt. "If I look at the board to see how Fuchs is doing, I might tighten up. To win, I have to stay relaxed." How important this is can be seen in Schmidt's prediction of the winning distance: "Between 213 and 215 will do it. At the Olympics, everyone is too tense to set world records in technique events." Schmidt can throw 215. Fuchs, please note.

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