Finally, a Good Break for Yim

It would have taken a lot more than a broken toe to keep Tabitha Yim out of the U.S. gymnastics championships.

Or a broken toe and an injured hip.

Or the broken toe, injured hip and fractured ankle the Irvine teenager suffered in miserable succession over six months within the last year.

“It was pretty tough,” she said of her enforced training break. “I did a lot of conditioning and strength exercises.”

That work served her well at last week’s U.S. competition in Cleveland, where she finished second in the all-around, first on the balance beam and second in floor exercise. Her performance earned her an invitation to a selection camp next month at Bela Karolyi’s Texas ranch, where the U.S. team will be chosen for the World Championships at Debrecen, Hungary, in November.

“My leg was all the way better, but I wasn’t completely prepared going into the competition,” she said. “I had to rely on my instincts.”

Her instincts were sound. Although she didn’t have time to add new elements to her routines, she finished behind only defending national champion Tasha Schwikert, who had 75.550 points to 74.625 for Yim.

“Tabitha’s a very hard worker,” said Beth Rybacki, who with her husband, Steve, coaches Yim at Charter Oaks Gym in Covina. “She comes in the gym every day and listens to what you tell her. Despite the injury, she kept pushing herself. We were hoping she’d rely on her experience and that everything would come out the way it did.”

Yim, who also competes at the novice level in figure skating, is used to overcoming obstacles. Her father, Howard, died three years ago of a heart defect, leaving her mother to support her and an older brother. Less than a year later, Yim’s figure skating coach, Ronnie Robertson, also died.

The 16-year-old’s strong will and discipline carried her through the worst times, and she hopes better things are in store. While she prepares for the selection camp, she’s eagerly anticipating Thursday’s T.J. Maxx International Gymnastics Challenge at the Arrowhead Pond, an event that matches U.S. stars against international rivals.

Yim, Schwikert, U.S. junior champion Hollie Vise and U.S. junior runner-up Carly Patterson are expected to compete for the U.S. against a squad scheduled to include two-time world all-around champion Svetlana Khorkina of Russia.

The event will kick off a buildup to the 2003 World Championships, to be held at the Pond.

“I can’t wait for my family to come and watch me,” Yim said. “It’s 15 minutes from my house. I think it should be fun. And I get to see what it’s like in the arena and just how it’s going to be for worlds. It’s going to be great.”

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See How They Run

As the Golden League track circuit resumes today with the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, Switzerland, five athletes remain eligible for prizes of gold ingots for winning their disciplines in all seven events on the circuit.

Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco (1,500 meters/mile), Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic (400 hurdles), Ana Guevara of Mexico (400), Gail Devers (100 hurdles) and Marion Jones (100) must win tonight, at Brussels Aug. 30 and at Berlin Sept. 6 to claim shares of the jackpot.

Jones, twice the world champion in the 100, and Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine, the woman who defeated Jones for the title last year, are scheduled for their first head-to-head competition next Friday at London’s Crystal Palace. Pintusevich-Block has the world’s top time this season, 10.83 seconds, .01 faster than Jones.

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Born to Luge?

Wannabe luge riders can learn from U.S. Olympic and national team coaches Aug. 24-25 when the USA Luge Slider Search comes to Long Beach.

For a $15 fee, boys and girls from 10 to 14 can try navigating a sled on wheels and learn the basics of steering, positioning and stopping. They’ll also get to make runs down a paved course near the Queen Mary.

The most promising sliders will be invited to train next winter at camps in Lake Placid, N.Y.; Marquette, Mich., and Park City, Utah. The top prospects from clinics conducted around the country will be considered for the 2003-04 USA Luge development team.

Six members of the Salt Lake City Olympic luge team were discovered in similar searches, including all three members of the women’s team.

Details: (800) USA-LUGE or www.usaluge.org.

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Here and There

Britain’s Paula Radcliffe,

who has won the London Marathon, the 5,000 meters at the Commonwealth Games and the 10,000 at the European Championships in the last year, told British reporters she’s not sure what distance she will run at the Athens Olympics.

“When you think that it’s the marathon in Athens, which is the home of the marathon, then maybe things change a little bit,” said Radcliffe, who will run the Chicago Marathon in October.

A crusader against doping in sports, she recently asked British sports authorities to release the results of her last five drug tests--all negative--to make the point that success can be achieved without drugs.... Boris Alexandrov, who won a gold medal with the 1976 Soviet Olympic hockey team and later coached a club and the Kazakhstan national team, died in a car crash recently.... The 2005 figure skating World Championships were awarded to Moscow and the 2005 European Championships to Turin. The European meet will be a test event for the 2006 Turin Olympics.