Some events aren't your father's games

By Steve Rivera

Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen

The 2004 Athens Games brings you Dream Team IV and a host of big-name stars in swimming and track & field, but it also has a host of sports with an X-Game feel and X-appeal.

From the high-voltage and high-fiving of beach volleyball to the artistic beauty of fencing and near brutality of judo to the rugged and grueling adventures of mountain biking, it all has its guts and glory of sport.

``It's not as crazy as you might see on the X-Games,'' said U.S. mountain biker Todd Wells, 31. ``But it's definitely grueling.'' And a sport - like those mentioned and sometimes overlooked - that has its white-hot moments.

But they all have them.

In beach volleyball, it's sand-in-your-face, high-energy action. And that's just from the fans that go see the event. ``You get that energy from the crowd and they get it from you,'' said Holly McPeak, who will be making her third Olympic Games appearance, playing with teammate Elaine Youngs. ``It's the best kind of environment you can have.''

McPeak, 35, will be attempting to improve on her two fifth-place finishes from the previous Olympic Games. The American team of Misty May and Kerri Walsh also have a good shot of winning a medal - if May is able to sufficiently recover from an abdominal injury - in what has become one of the hot tickets at the Olympic Games. From the seemingly skimpy suits and chiseled physiques to the blaring music, the sport is must-see VB (volleyball).

``It's been the best venue at the past two Olympic Games,'' McPeak said. ``I'm sure it's going to be the same in Athens. It's going to be a wild time.''

The canoe and kayak events may not have the same frenzy of volleyball but it does have the same high-octane moments. In the one-person kayak, athletes attempt to maneuver through a course without touching barriers through ever-changing rapids.

``It's a white-knuckle sport because you're watching someone trying to win knowing that if he touches one gate with the smallest part of his elbow, it costs two seconds (to his time) and it's crushing,'' said Luke Dieker, media relations director for the sport. ``The white water slalom is like downhill skiing with the exception in skiing, the snow doesn't move. In white water slalom, it's like skiing on an avalanche because the water is moving underneath.''

In mountain biking, competitors travel more than 25 miles over rugged terrain under sometimes-unpredictable conditions.

``It's a pretty tough sport because you have to use maximum effort for the entire two hours,'' said Wells.

In one recent race, athletes started in calm, 75-degree weather, but later endured a hail storm, a dip in temperature to 40 degrees and later a constant rain downpour.

``By the end we were covered in mud,'' Wells said. ``Usually we're covered in dust; it just depends on the course.'' Courses where 40-mile-per-hour speeds downhill are common and unforeseen obstacles are everywhere.

In judo, it's athlete against athlete. Grit and guts are required for victory. There's something animalistic about it, but that's what two-time Olympian Jimmy Pedro (lightweight) loves about it. ``It's the only Olympic sport where you can choke somebody out with a stranglehold,'' said Pedro, 33, a bronze medal winner at the Atlanta Games in 1996. ``It's sort of ultimate fighting minus the punches. It's WWF for real.''

Fencing may not have the brutality of judo but it has a strike-in-a-blink quickness and a romantic flair that seems to be giving it national appeal. According to fencing officials, membership is up nearly 100 percent - to about 10,000 - in the last six years. Thank the movies and perhaps its come-right-at-you appeal.

``But in the movies it's not like that,'' said Mariel Zagunis, 19, a medal hopeful in the women's sabre. She joins sisters Sada and Emily Jacobsen on Team USA, the only country with three participants in fencing, which is making its Olympic debut. ``You can't run all over the place and climb staircases. But at the same time, the scenes (from movies) have attracted people to the sport. They either try it and like it or it's not what they expected.''