U.S. SWIMMERS WIN TWO MORE GOLDS (Published 1984)
- ️https://www.nytimes.com/by/frank-litsky
- ️Tue Jul 31 1984
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- July 31, 1984
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The United States success in the Games of the XXIII Olympiad continued today with two more gold medals in swimming and one in shooting.
In swimming, Mary Wayte of Mercer Island, Wash., won the women's 200-meter freestyle, and the men's 800-meter freestyle relay team captured a spectacular final from West Germany by 4-hundredths of a second, or no more than 3 inches. World records were broken in the three men's finals.
In shooting, the American gold medal came from Ed Etzel, of Morgantown, W. Va., who won the small- bore rifle competition with a near- perfect score of 599.
Gross Continues Heroics
Michael Gross, the 6-foot-7-inch West German superstar, continued his heroics. On Sunday night, when Olympic competition began, he won the 200-meter freestyle in world- record time. Tonight, he won the 100- meter butterfly, a race he dislikes, by a foot from the favored Pablo Morales of Santa Clara, Calif. Gross's time of 53.08 seconds broke Morales's month-old world record of 53.38.
On a day that the United States stretched its leading medal total to 15, including 9 golds and 6 silvers, American athletes met success and some disappointment.
- In women's gymnastics, Ecaterina Szabo of Rumania scored the first 10 of the women's gymnastics competition as her country took a slim lead over the United States in the team competition, 196.15 to 195.70 points.
- In the boxing competition, Paul Gonzales of Los Angeles overcame his major obstacle to the gold medal in the 106-pound class by scoring a one-sided and unanimous decision over Kim Kwang Sun of South Korea.
- In women's basketball, the United States made a successful debut in the round-robin competition with an 83-55 rout of Yugoslavia. (Page B5.)
Two hours after the butterfly final, the 19-year-old Gross anchored the West German team in the 800-meter freestyle relay. He overcame an 8-foot deficit and led by 1 1/2 feet entering the last 50-meter lap. Then, to the cheers of the 16,500 spectators at the McDonald pool, Bruce Hayes of Dallas caught Gross in the last two strokes and won for the United States in 7 minutes 15.69 seconds.