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Saturday, July 24, 2004 May
may not be Olympic-bound
For
more than a year, there hasn't been an athlete in the nation with a
better hold on a trip to the 2004 Olympics in Athens than Misty May. The former Long Beach
State volleyball All-American and her beach partner Kerri Walsh hit
their stride at midseason of 2003 and have been virtually unstoppable,
winning the World Championships in Carson last September, putting
together a record-breaking 11-month, 90-match winning streak, and
clinching an Olympics berth in May. Now, three weeks
before the Games open, her hold is tenuous. A strained stomach muscle
that forced May to withdraw from an event in late June resurfaced
Saturday before the women's final of the AVP Hermosa Beach Open. After May and Walsh
rallied to beat Barbara Fontana and Jennifer Kessy in the semifinals,
16-21, 21-12, 17-15, the strain resurfaced and May was forced to
withdraw from the nationally televised final. The team of Holly McPeak
and Elaine Youngs won the title by default, then won an exhibition final
over Walsh and Rachel Wacholder, 18-21, 21-17, 15-10. May, who left the
facility quickly to receive medical treatment, said the decision was
precautionary, but any kind of injury on the eve of the Games can be
devastating. "She said the
pain was a little lower this time,' Walsh said. "Misty is the
ultimate competitor, and she didn't want to feel like a wuss by not
playing. But we probably shouldn't have played.' Hermosa was May's
first tourney since the injury. May-Walsh lost the first game in three
of the five matches they played, and benefited in the third game of the
semi when Fontana suffered a cramp. "She wasn't
playing Misty May volleyball,' Walsh said. "Maybe it was
subconscious, maybe she was protecting her stomach. But she was
tentative.' There's just one
event left before the Olympics, a tournament in Austria next week that
May will undoubtedly skip. But most everyone who knows May expects her
to be on the beach in Athens. It would hardly be
the first time she played hurt. Four years ago, May qualified for the
Olympics despite a severe shoulder injury that forced her in one match
to serve underhand. "I think she'll
play,' McPeak said. "She's worked too hard. She's not going to let
an injury keep her from the Olympics, and she's proven she can play
through pain. She'll suck it up. She's a better player than most even if
she is injured.' McPeak knows because
they were partners four years ago. They started late in the 2000
qualification process but put together a series of wins and overcame
May's injury to qualify. They finished fifth in Sydney. May does not have to
get healthy overnight. She has qualified and a decision on playing does
not have to be made until two days before Olympic play begins. But it's
still a narrow window. "I don't want to
have to think about it,' Walsh said when asked about her options should
May not recover. She and Wacholder played well in two tournaments since
May got hurt, winning in Marseilles last week, as well as Saturday's
final. But Walsh said she
will likely ask Annett Davis, the former St.Anthony High standout, to be
her Olympic partner in a worst- case scenario. Davis and her longtime
teammate, Jenny Johnson Jordan, are the No.3-ranked team in the U.S.,
and only two teams per country qualify. Sort of left out of
this discussion are McPeak and Youngs, the beach veterans who are
playing superbly at the right time. They shook the Davis-Jordan team in
securing the second berth last month and appear to be peaking. And
they're healthy. "I think so,'
McPeak said. "We struggled some last year but we've worked hard to
get where we are now. We don't want to be the gold- medal favorite. We
just want to win it.' The men's final is
today at 1:30p.m. |
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