W I N N E R S  &  L O S E R S
RUDOLF NUREYEV A defector in '61 who died in '93, the Russian ballet dancer is now officially "rehabilitated" NELSON MANDELA U.S. Congress awards him its Gold Medal for his apartheid fight, years after segregation laws repealed KEVIN APPS Look Ma, two planets! British college student helps astronomers find new celestial bodies	SYLVESTER STALLONE Slow down, Rambo. Speeding in a golf cart gets Sly a two-week suspension from his Miami club KIDMAN AND CRUISE Nicole wins raves in West End show, but she and Tom can't get into chichi London tennis haven BEN JOHNSON Court says nope because he doped, rejects Canadian sprinter's request to lift his lifetime ban

V E R B A T I M

"After a careful reading of the Starr Report, I am impressed by the salacious and voyeuristic nature of your work." LARRY FLYNT, porn magazine publisher, in an open letter offering a job to prosecutor Kenneth Starr "It's like a church bell ringing at the same time every day, so that after a while you don't notice it." KAORU YOSANO, Japanese minister, on frequent U.S. calls for his country to boost its economy

"It's O.K. to use pronouns. There's no shortage of pronouns. Feel free to use them." AL GORE, U.S. Vice President and champion of plain language, awarding workers for paring down a government report "Long time, no see." ZHANG JINCHENG, Chinese negotiator, as his Taiwan counterpart arrived in Beijing for their first meeting in more than three years