Gym Shorts

American gymnastics has taken a giant flip backward since 1984. The team that won 16 medals in Los Angeles is unlikely to win any in Seoul. What happened? East bloc athletes aside, the difference is injuries, inexperience and infighting. Men's Coach Abie Grossfeld admits that "1984 was special. We won't have a group like that again."

In the past year, Greg Marsden and Don Peters each resigned as women's team coach after feuding with, among others, Bela Karolyi, Mary Lou Retton's coach. The women's team will not have a head coach in Seoul. U.S. prosecutors even reviewed alleged financial improprieties at the U.S. Gymnastics Federation. Said Peters: "I wish it would all go away."

The 1984 Olympians had previously won a total of twelve national all-around titles; the '88 team has two. Time moved too slowly for those among the missing: Tim Daggett (broken leg), Dan Hayden (separated shoulder) and Sabrina Mar (chronic back disorder). Those to watch for: returning Olympian Scott Johnson, 27, who will compete with screws in his broken right hand; Charles Lakes, 24, America's first black Olympian gymnast; and Phoebe Mills, 15, the runaway U.S. Olympic trials winner.