SPORTS
Page 12
Tuesday, August 14, 1984
Kiall's last dive
wins Olympic silver
By PAUL HELGREN
Bruce Kimball completed the comeback
that began in late 1981 and dove his way to the
silver medal in the 10-meter platform in the
final day of Olympic competition Sunday.
Kimball finished with 643.50 points, well
behind gold medal winner Greg Louganis,
who tallied a record 710.91. China's Li
Kongzheng took the bronze with a score of
638.28
For a list of Wolverine medal
winners, see page 11.
KIMBALL WAS STUCK in third behind Li
going into his final dive. But the Michigan
junior earned five 9.5s and two 9.Os on a 2%
somersault with a tuck to gain the second
spot. It was a fitting end for an athlete who
had come so far.
While still in high school Kimball suffered
an auto accident that tore his slight body to
shreds. But just months later he was back on
the board competing. His comeback left his
competition amazed.
"The Chinese divers were amazed when
they saw him," said Kimball's mother Gail,
before the Games, recalling his first inter-
national meet after the accident. "They were
told he wouldn't be diving anymore. They felt
the scars on his face with their fingers. They
weren't making fun of him. They were just
amazed he could come back."
After Sunday's competition the Chinese
divers might have been wishing Kimball had
given up the sport. Besides Li, Kimball also
beat out China's Tong Hui, who finished four-
th.
After the meet was over both Kimball and
Louganis said they would continue competing
in international competition. So it appears
that at least for a while the rivalry between
these two Americans will continue.
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The Michigan Daily
Raising lHel
By PAUL HELGREN
Tired of Olympics?...
...Getreadyfor the real Game
THANK GOD it's over. No more Mary Lou "I'm-so-cute-you-
gotta-love-me" Retton. No more promos for the
nauseatingly-patriotic "Call to Glory" (if you don't watch this show
the implication is you must be anti-American). No more inane in-
terviews, with questions like, "If Bobby Knight were an animal
what would he be?" (oh, if only they had asked me).
No more silly "sports" like team handball, rhythmic gymnastics
(very suspect, what those girls do with that bowling ball), syn-
chronized swimming and water polo. No more Olympics. It's get-
ting close to the time when we should start thinking about real spor-
ts - like football.
Yes it's only 25 days until the season begins for Michigan football.
To whet your gridiron appetite, here are some comments from
coaches and players on the upcoming season.
-Michigan coach Bo Schembechler on TV overexposure:
"There are enough people that are lazy enough to say, 'Hey, man.
Why fight the crowd? Go through all that? I'll just sit right here
with a couple of beers, refridgerator close by. I don't have to go
anywhere.' I'm concerned about that."
-Iowa coach Haden Fry, on why the new TV package, which
prominently features good teams and ignores poor ones, is good:
"That's what makes America tick. They gotta expose the top ones.
The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And that's the way it
should be. That should motivate the poor to get their programs up
there."
Bookies counting on Tomczak
-Ohio State quarterback Mike Tomczak on whether he feels
pressure to return from his leg injury: "Outside of from the
bookies, no."
*Purdue coach Leon Burtnett on recruiting poor students to play
football: "We recruit poor students. There's not a single coach
that can stand here and say they don't. We all do. But we make
sure we tell 'em that they're gonna be at the study table four nights
a week and they're gonna attend class."
*Rookie Indiana coach Bill Mallory on accusations that Iowa ran
up the score against the Hoosiers last season (49-3): "Hell, if you
get your ass kicked like that - you know, if they run it up, they run
it up."
- Mallory on whom his wife will root for in the Indiana-Michigan
game. Mallory's sons, Mike and Doug play for the Wolverines:
"She said me. She better. One of them (his sons) made the com-
ment, 'It looks like we lost amother for a day."'
'Minnesota coach Lou Holtz on how tough it is to recruit in a cold-
weather state: "I personally want to go to Alaska to recruit.
Because I always thought it was easier to talk a young man into
coming south to play school."
'More Holtz on recruiting: "We want to recruit local boys -
from Florida."
-Holtz on the progress of his Golden Gophers thus far: "I feel like
the guy who's falling down a 20-story building. As he passed each
floor he said, 'I'm doing okay so far."'
Bo makes his pick
-Illinois coach Mike White on his school's woes: "We had a tough
stat in the Rose Bowl and it's been downhill from there."
'Michigan middle guard Al Sincich on Illinois' pnishment for
recruiting violations: "You would have to think something was
suspicious when Mike White came in three, four years ago and he
changed the whole program around and won the Big Ten and got all
the players he got. You know there has to be something crooked for
that (to happen) . .. they deserved what they get."
-Bo on who should be the favorite in the Big Ten: "You're asking
me to single out one team in the Big Ten. I don't think I'm capable
of doing that ... You want me to pick a football team? I'll pick it.
Michigan."
'Michigan tight end Sim Nelson on who he thanks the most for his
starting position at Michigan: "I thank God for giving me the
talent to play . .. I thank Bo for giving me a grant in aid."
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Sports Information
Michigan junior Bruce Kimball, shown here from a meet earlier this year, won the silver
medal in 10-meter platform diving Sunday. Kimball was the eighth athlete associated with the
University of Michigan to win an Olympic medal.