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Monday, September 25, 2000
Myrdal keeps Kailua's John Myrdal resumed his racing in Laser class sailing competition today, and his hopes for a medal remain faintly alive.
hopes alive
Kailua sailor remains in
Hawaii Olympians
medal contention in laser classBy Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinMyrdal finally got the kind of start he wanted to earn a second place finish a couple of days ago in , but he stands in 19th place overall with five more races to go.
"But the first race of the day I started prematurely and so I was actually disqualified from that race," said Myrdal.
In placing second, Myrdal beat 41 boats to the finish. His previous finishes were fourth, 20th, 40th and 21st.
After the fifth race of his 11-race series, Myrdal was eligible to erase his worst finish from the overall score, but the disqualification negated that privilege.
"If I hadn't disqualified in that one race, I would've been able to discard that 40th place finish and I would've been in the top seven instead of 19th," he said.
"We're going to be able to drop another big one (after four more races), so I still have a tremednous amount of potential to finish well. So, there's a long way to go."
Does he still have a ,prayer to medal in his first Olympic sailing competition?
"If the top three guys have any kind of run of bad luck like I've had, I'd say it's still possible at this point," said Myrdal.
Myrdal said that the locations in Sydney Harbor change for each day's races.
"The geography has a lot to do with the wind shift," he said. "But my strategy hasn't changed. The overall performance (19th) indicates I've run into some tough spots and had some hard luck in some areas. And I'm trying to sift my way through. I've had a couple of good races and proven that I can be up there. I just have to take each race at a time."
Water polo wins: Former Punahou star Sean Kern said the U.S. men's water polo team is "definitely getting better each game"and needs only to beat Greece now to get into the quarterfinals.
The men improved to 1-2-0 with their 12-8 win over the Dutch yesterday. Up today are the Hungarians (2-1-0), who the U.S. beat in Budapest during the summer, and winless Greece (0-3-0).
"We're clicking more on defense, especially on our counter," said Kern.He said his team has "rationalized" its two opening losses to Croatia and Yugoslavia, both 3-0-0.
"It's OK because we know they're definitely two of the best teams in the tournament, and it didn't surprise us," said Kern. "But as long as we beat the Dutch, which we did, and play a good game against Hungary and definitely beat Greece, we'll be in a fine position."
Kern, a utility player, has played in rotation but has yet to score in three games.
He said the food at Olympic Village is very tempting and its takes willpower to avoid over-indulging. But he said he has not yet run into the kangaroo tail stew that Hawaii's 1956 Olympians called "ono."
"I did see kangaroo steak advertised, but I didn't go in that restaurant," said Kern.
Asked if he could see himself eating kangaroo, he said, "Why not? If it tastes good."
Anderson out: American flyweight Olanda Anderson, who fought his lightweight bout last night, began his boxing career while stationed at Schofield Barracks.
Anderson lost to Rudolf Kraj of Czechoslovakia to become the fifth U.S. boxer in four days to exit the tournament.
Today When to watch
NBC (KHNL Channel 13, Cable 8)
4 p.m.-9 p.m.
Gymnastics, track & field, men's diving, synchronized swimming
9:35 p.m.-11:05 p.m.
Track and field, men's volleyball (U.S. vs. Italy).CNBC (OC16, Dig. 116, AC 43)
2 p.m.-6 p.m.
Men's basketball (U.S. vs. France), weighlifting, tennis.MSNBC (OC40, Dig 107, AC12)
9 p.m.-4 a.m. (repeat)
Softball (U.S. vs. China), equestrian, tennis, men's water polo (U.S. vs. Netherlands).
Competing today: Hawaii's Olympians
Kayaking: Peter Newton.
Sailing: John Myrdal
Women's volleyball (Heather Bown, Robyn Ah Mow).
Water polo: Sean Kern
Sydney 2000 Olympics