Goodwill Games Roundup : U.S. Wrestles 3 Golds From Soviets

MOSCOW — American wrestlers won three gold medals at the Goodwill Games Monday, while Soviet gymnasts swept the medals in the all-around competition, shutting out a disappointing American team.

Wrestlers John Smith, David Schultz and Bruce Baumgartner each defeated a Soviet opponent in their gold-medal matches, boosting the American medal count to 99, including 34 gold.

But the Soviets took seven wrestling golds, widening their lead in the medals race with a total of 145, including 59 gold.

Smith defeated Khazen Isaev, 6-3, in the 136-pound class, despite complaining of a bad call in the second period, when he scrambled out of bounds.

“They have the homecourt advantage,” Smith said of the Soviets, who are hosting the inaugural Goodwill Games. “I accepted it and tried not to let it get me down.”

Schultz and Baumgartner were both gold medalists in the 1984 Olympics.

Schultz, with his wife and baby son in the audience, rallied from a 2-0 deficit to down Adlan Varaev, 4-2, in the 163-pound class.

Baumgartner scored the final point with just 22 seconds remaining, edging out David Gobedzhishvili in the heavyweight match. The score ended at 4-4, and Baumgartner won on criteria.

Baumgartner said he was looking forward to meeting Gobedzhishvili again in the 1986 world championships to be held at Budapest, Hungary, in October.

“I always like it when I win, especially against a Soviet,” Schultz said as he posed for pictures with his wife and daughter.

Americans Kevin Darkus (126 pounds), Andre Metzger (150 pounds) and James Scherr (198 pounds) all lost final matches and took silver medals.

In gymnastics, held before just 3,000 people in the cavernous Olympic Stadium Hall, the Soviets swept the medals as Yuri Korolev won the gold, Valentin Mogilny the silver and Vladimir Artemov the bronze. The top American finisher, Charles Lake, was seventh.

“We were all a bit disappointed,” said Bart Conner, a member of the gold-medal American team at the Los Angeles Olympics and a commentator for Turner Broadcasting System. “Unfortunately, we got off to a terrible start yesterday.”

At the end of the first day of gymnastics competition Monday, the United States was fifth in the six-nation event.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us,” Lake, of Newhall, Calif., said.

Lake, 21, a student at the University of Illinois, earned two 9.7s, one in the floor exercise and one on the parallel bars.

Phil Cahoy of Omaha, Neb., finished 13th with 113.300 points.

Lake praised the meet and said it would help American gymnasts prepare for the 1988 Olympics.

“You always have to look at the Russians because they always set the standard,” he said.

But other gymnasts have complained about equipment here, particularly the mats.

“A lot of the athletes have found they (the mats) are slipping on them,” Conner said.

Korolev registered scores of 9.80 on the rings, high bar, side horse and floor exercise, and 9.75 on both the parallel bars and the vault. His two-day total was 117.15 points.

The United States opened the men’s volleyball tournament with a 15-8, 15-9, 15-10 victory over Bulgaria. The Soviet Union defeated Brazil, 15-9, 15-6, 15-3, and Czechoslovakia rallied to beat Japan, 10-15, 8-15, 15-11, 15-11, 16-14.

In team handball, the United States’ men defeated Iceland, 22-19, but the U.S. women’s team lost to Denmark, 23-22.