Olympian Van Dyken Honored

Amy Van Dyken was the unexpected hero of Atlanta, an also-ran who suddenly found her stroke in the biggest event of all--the Olympics.

Now, the rewards are coming.

The first U.S. woman to win four gold medals in a single Olympics, Van Dyken already has parlayed her swimming success into a broad-based commercial campaign, pitching products from cereal to cell phones.

And as the Olympic year ran out, Van Dyken was recognized again for her sports performance. In a close vote dominated by the stars of the Summer Games, she was selected Tuesday as the Associated Press female athlete of the year.

Balloting by the AP’s print and broadcast members gave Van Dyken 191 points and 45 of the 165 first-place votes. Second was another Olympic gold medalist, gymnast Kerri Strug, with 34 first-place votes and 159 points, followed by tennis star Steffi Graf, with 27 first-place votes and 142 points.

Van Dyken swam a leg on the gold-medal 400 freestyle relay, then won the 100 butterfly. A third gold medal in the 400 medley relay followed.

In her final race, the 50 freestyle, Van Dyken faced the 100-meter winner, Le Jingyi of China, the world-record holder at both distances.

Van Dyken upset the favorite in an American-record 24.87 seconds, helping the U.S. swim team to 13 gold medals, its biggest haul since 1984.

Tennis

Jonathan Stark eliminated third-seeded Andrei Medvedev in the first round of the $328,000 Australian Hardcourt championship at Adelaide, Australia.

Stark routed Medvedev, 6-1, 6-1.

Stark was joined in the last 16 by Jeff Tarango, who came through the qualifying tournament and then beat Martin Damm of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-3.

Sergi Bruguera of Spain defeated Michael Stich, 6-3, 6-1, at the Qatar Open in Doha, in a match that lasted only 49 minutes.

“That was the worst match I have played in 10 years,� Stich said.

Top-seeded Thomas Muster of Austria made it through to the second round with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Hernan Gumy of Argentina, and defending champion Petr Korda of the Czech Republic had a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Stephane Simian of France.

Sweden’s Asa Carlsson overcame a 5-0 deficit and fought off six set points en route to a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over Anne Miller in the first round of the Gold Coast Classic in Australia.

Romanian qualifier Catalina Cristea beat Helena Sukova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-4.

Mark Philippoussis had 37 aces as he scored successive singles and doubles victories in a 2-1 victory over fourth-seeded France at the Hopman Cup mixed teams championship at Perth, Australia.

Philippoussis defeated Guy Forget, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, in the men’s singles and then combined with Nicole Bradtke to win mixed doubles, 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-5), against Forget and Mary Pierce.

Jurisprudence

Seventeen days after losing a second fight to Riddick Bowe because of low blows, heavyweight boxer Andrew Golota arrived in his native Poland to stand trial for a 1990 nightclub brawl.

On Tuesday, the bronze medalist in the 1988 Olympics is to stand trial on charges of assault and robbery in his hometown of Wloclawek, 100 miles northwest of Warsaw.

Prosecutors say that during a nightclub brawl in 1990, Golota, then 22, beat a young man who had torn the boxer’s jacket. Golota also allegedly took the young man’s shoes and jeans.

Names in the News

Paul Tergat of Kenya outran close to 9,000 other athletes from around the world to win the traditional year-end St. Silvester road race at Sao Paulo, Brazil. Roseli Machado of Brazil won the women’s race.

Joan Birkland of Denver has been selected to chair the 24-member USGA women’s committee for 1997. Birkland has been the committee’s vice chair since 1995.

Former NHL star Sylvain Turgeon, now playing with Bolzano in the Italian league, scored three goals, leading Canada to a 6-2 win over Davos for the Spengler Cup championship in Switzerland.