VIEWER'S GUIDE

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1996

JULY 19--AUGUST 4

ARCHERY

South Koreans won both the men's and women's events at Barcelona, and they're aiming for the same in Atlanta. The U.S. men--Butch Johnson, Justin Huish and Rod White--may contend for a team medal.

ATHLETICS (TRACK & FIELD)

SPRINTS The shifting demographics of elite track and field--from "amateurs" to career professionals--have placed an unusually large number of aging veterans among the favorites. Top contenders in the men's 100 meters include Americans Carl Lewis, 35, and Dennis Mitchell, 30, as well as Britain's reigning Olympic champion Linford Christie, 36. Their younger challengers are Canada's Donovan Bailey, 28, the current world champion; Obadele Thompson, 20, of Barbados; and Ato Boldon, 22, of Trinidad.

In the women's 100, there seem to be no youngsters to threaten the four veterans who have dominated the event for four years: Gwen Torrence, 30, and Gail Devers, 29, of the U.S.; Russia's Barcelona bronze medalist Irina Privalova, 27; and Jamaica's defending Olympic champion Merlene Ottey, 36.

The men's 200 and 400 have been all but conceded to the U.S.'s Michael Johnson, 28, who won both events by large margins at last year's world championships, necessitating the rearrangement of the Olympic schedule to accommodate his try at the unprecedented double.

MIDDLE AND LONG DISTANCES Above 400 meters, Africans take over. Maria Mutola of Mozambique is expected to dominate the women's 800, and possibly the 1,500, where she'll face defending champion Hassiba Boulmerka of Algeria. Boulmerka's countryman and fellow 1,500 runner, Noureddine Morceli, may be the firmest favorite in any track event, with the possible exception of Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie, world-record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000, or Kenya's Moses Kiptanui, who owns the six fastest marks in the steeplechase. The heat and humidity will open up the marathons, although Spain's world champion Martin Fiz is good in hot weather, and Uta Pippig of Germany proved her ability to withstand adversity when she won her third straight Boston Marathon despite severe cramps.

FIELD EVENTS, DECATHLON AND HEPTATHLON More old-timers. In the pole vault, Ukrainian Sergei Bubka, 32, has ranked No. 1 for 11 of the past 13 years, and should be able to beat back a challenge from youngster Okkert Brits of South Africa, 23, and Russia's 1992 Olympic champion Maksim Tarasov, 25. Cuban high jumper Javier Sotomayor, 28, the only man ever to clear 8 ft., is a solid favorite if his knee holds up; British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards, 30, is the first man to hop, skip and jump 60 ft.; and Czech javelin thrower Jan Zelezny, 30, had 21 of last year's 22 longest throws. Barring the kind of bad luck that kept him off the U.S. team for Barcelona, decathlete Dan O'Brien, who turns 30 the day before the opening ceremonies, will get his overdue gold. Jackie Joyner-Kersee of the U.S., if healthy, is clearly the favorite in the women's heptathlon, which she won in Seoul and Barcelona. She is a tad less dominant in the long jump, which she won in '88.