CHILLY ATLANTA WARM-UP

THE FRIGID CONDITIONS (4 degrees C and gusting winds) were as different as could be from the steam bath expected next summer in Atlanta, but the results of the New York City Marathon earlier this month still offered a few clues to the way the longest races are likely to go at the Olympics. Men's champion German Silva of Mexico retained his title, shaking off dogged pursuit by England's Paul Evans and striding with formidable freshness in the final kilometer to collect $35,000 and a Jeep. His 2:11:00 finish was almost as impressive as last year's, when he had to make up for a wrong turn with 800 m to go. Silva, raised in tropical Veracruz state, is looking forward to Atlanta's weather. "I come from a village with lots of heat and humidity," he says. His chief competition may come from countryman Dionisio Ceron, the world's top-ranked marathoner for the past two years. Both will have to contend, though, with a phalanx of resolute Ethiopians who have begun systematic marathon training for the first time in decades in a bid to revive a tradition that produced three straight Olympic titles in the '60s.

New York's women's race also produced a repeat winner. Tiny (40 kg) Tegla Loroupe of Kenya, who complained of being blown about by the wind, pulled smoothly away from world champion Manuela Machado of Portugal to win by a convincing 2 1/2 min. in 2:28:06. To the relief of rival marathoners, Loroupe announced she will run only the 10,000 m in Atlanta; she plans to run in the 100th Boston Marathon in April and doesn't want to attempt another 42-km race just 3 1/2 months later. This ought to make last year's top-ranked woman marathoner, Utta Pippig of Germany, the clear favorite, but she plans to run in Boston too, and may not recover in time for Atlanta. That could leave the race open for New York City runner-up Machado, who does well in summer championships and likes heat better than cold.

WEIGHT LIFTING LITTLE BIG MAN

HE'S KNOWN AS "THE POCKET Hercules," and if he meets the goal he has set for himself in Atlanta, he'll enter a new pantheon in the world of serious iron pumpers. Last week Turkey's Naim Suleymanoglu, all of 1.50 m tall, won his seventh world championship in the 64-kg class and immediately fixed his mind on something no weight lifter has ever achieved: a third Olympic gold medal. Twelve earlier champions--including such demigods as the Soviet Vasili Alekseyev--have tried and fallen short. Suleymanoglu won his first gold in 1988, shortly after defecting from Bulgaria, where he competed under the name Naum Shalamanov. Four years later he won his second. And this year, remarkably, he's not alone. The superheavyweight Alexander Kurlovitch of Belarus is also going for his third gold in Atlanta. But the massive Kurlovitch is one of weight lifting's bad boys--he's currently sitting out his second doping suspension; many in the sport hope to see him dwarfed by Hercules.

SOCCER THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL

OLYMPIC FOOTBALL, WHICH dozed for years under amateurs-only restrictions, remained something of a yawn even after the no-pros rules were lifted in 1984. This year there's a wake-up call: each team may include three "wild card" players--over the regular age limit of 23. But even if there had been no rule change, these Olympics would be likely to feature soccer of fully professional quality. World Cup holder Brazil, for example, boasts two youngsters among the best anywhere regardless of age: 19-year-old Ronaldo, currently scoring at a goal-a-game pace in the Dutch first division; and 20-year-old Juninho, who fetched a record $7.5 million in October. Both will be in Atlanta wearing Brazil's green and gold. The Brazilians have never won an Olympic gold medal, and they mean to make 1996 their year. They've been fielding what amounts to their youthful Olympic team against full international sides--no age limits--and the kids barely lost to Uruguay in the finals of the Copa America, the South American championship.

VOLLEYBALL NET ADDITION

THE CONCLUSION OF THE quadrennial Volleyball World Cup under way in Japan marks the end of the first round in the scramble for spots in next year's Olympic tournament. Three of the 12 Atlanta places for men and women are decided at the Cup, with a fourth allotted to the U.S. host. At week's end, Cuba, Brazil and China had nailed down spots in the women's competition, and in the men's round robin, favored Italy and Brazil enjoyed narrow leads over Cuba and Japan. The remaining eight places in each tournament will be decided in regional play-offs. But the sport's thunder may be stolen by its trash-TV offspring, beach volleyball, a stripped-down version of the indoor sport, played by two-person teams on sand. Next year it will be offered for the first time as a full-fledged Olympic-medal sport. --By John Manners. Reported by Jon Abbey