FIELD TESTING ATLANTA

THE LAST REHEARSAL SUMMER is over. The main stadium in central Atlanta is still abuilding, but venues for 14 of the sports at the 1996 Games are more or less complete, and the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games has conducted top-level competitions in each of them to try out facilities and logistics. Most sites checked out well, with special raves for the state-of-the-art swimming and diving center. Problems elsewhere ranged from the flighty-air-conditioning blowers in the badminton arena that sent shuttlecocks swooping in unexpected directions--to the substantial: the surface of a new field-hockey pitch failed to drain properly or give the true bounces and straight rolls that the sport requires. The hockey facilities have to be smoothed and resurf aced.

The loudest complaints came from yachters, who seethed at the more than two-hour motorboat tow from the docks near Savannah to a day marina near the offshore competition site 22 km away. Some sailors also found the floating marina amenities inadequate. "This is not the quality you expect of the Olympics, or even of a pre-Olympic event," sniffed a Finn. The president of the International Yacht Racing Union once considered moving the competition to Miami. Instead, the Atlanta Committee is impro ving and enlarging the day marina to quell the carping and accommodate boats overnight.

The most intractable difficulty, the summer tryouts confirmed, is liable to be the sticky heat. Distance runners and bicycle racers have been moaning ever since the city was chosen. On July 19, exactly one year before the 1996 opening ceremony, tempera tures in the Georgia shade hit 37 degrees for the fourth time in a month. Organizers have been testing a device that cools outdoor arenas by spraying a mist above the playing surface, then blowing it away as it evaporates--a kind of open-air conditioning . The manufacturers claim their gizmos can lower field temperatures as much as 9 degrees. Gee, 28 degrees. What's the humidity?

ATHLETICS

IRRESISTIBLE FORCE

IN MOST CASES, OLYMPIC schedules, once announced, are set in stone. But not for Superman, as U.S. sprinter Michael Johnson is known to his fans and even his rivals. Johnson won both the 200 m and 400 m at the Athletics World Championships in August-an unprecedented double--and hopes to do the same next year in Atlanta. But the schedule stands in his way for now.

The program originally had Johnson twice running heats of both races on a single day. In June, the governing International Amateur Athletic Federation blinked, easing one of the conflicts by adding 50 minutes to the break between the 200-m semifinal an d the 400-m final. Johnson wasn't satisfied. In July he talked with International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch and in August with I.A.A.F. boss Primo Nebiolo. Both know what Superman's success could do for track's sagging U.S. popula rity. So when officials meet again in December, look for a new schedule that puts maximum distance between the 200 and 400.

ELIGIBILITY

NONSTARTERS

ONE IS THE REIGNING world champion at 800 m, another is the indoor world champion in the high jump; the third won a gold medal for weight lifting in Los Angeles and a silver in Seoul. All are still at the top of their form, but as matters stand, none will be competing in Atlanta. Middle-distance runner Wilson Kipketer of Denmark, high jumper Alina Astafei of Germany and weight lifter Nicu Vlad of Romania are ineligible because they've recently changed their national colors. Kipketer, born in Kenya, n eeds an act of the Danish Parliament to make him a citizen in time for Atlanta; Astafei, a native Romanian, has not been released by that country's Olympic committee to compete for Germany; and Vlad, who lifted in 1993 and 1994 for Australia, has not been released by the committee Down Under. Not all transplanted superstars will be shut out next year. Nigerian-born Hakeem Olajuwon, the 2.13-m center of the Houston Rockets and a U.S. citizen since 1993, has been cleared to play for the Dream Team in Atlant a.

WATER POLO

HALF TIME

LITTLE NOTED EXCEPT DURing the Olympics, when its flash and splash make it a spectator favorite, water polo is the oldest team event in the Games, introduced in 1900. This year it is also the farthest along in selecting the teams that will compete in 1 996. Six of the dozen countries who will go to the Olympics were determined last month at the Water Polo World Cup in Atlanta's 15,000-seat Aquatic Center. Winner, and top Olympic seed: Hungary. The other five that made the cut: Italy (which lost the Cup final to Hungary 11-10), Russia, the U.S., Spain and Croatia. The remaining six teams must earn their places in a tournament in Berlin next February.

--By John Manners. Reported by Jon Abbey, Tim Blair and Rhea Schoenthal