Quance Will Stick Neck Out for 2000

She met the president and the vice-president, took part in one of the biggest bashes of the decade and won Olympic gold.

All in all, not a bad couple of weeks for Kristine Quance.

Considering the beginning, anyway.

A native of Northridge, Quance failed to make it out of the preliminaries of the 200-meter individual medley and the 100 breaststroke.

Then things started to get better, although it cost Quance some tears.

She volunteered, nay insisted, on giving up her spot in the 400 medley relay.

“I was kind of doubting myself,” said Quance, who swam the breaststroke leg in the prelims as the United States easily qualified for the final. “I knew that I had other people depending on me and I knew that the relay was going to win easily. I didn’t want to screw that up.”

Amanda Beard took Quance’s place in the final that evening and U.S. won. Even though she didn’t race in the final, Quance still received a gold.

It was . . . OK. Her parents were proud of it. They showed it to everybody.

But Quance wasn’t satisfied.

She didn’t receive her medal until the day after the event. No ceremony, no anthem, nothing for Quance.

“I haven’t put it around my neck,” Quance said. “I made a decision not to, because I think it’s different when you stand up on the podium and receive it from someone and hear the national anthem play for you. I don’t want a gold medal hanging around my neck until I have that.”

Having a gold “isn’t something I’m ashamed of at all. I’m proud of it. But I want my moment of glory standing up there.”

Quance, 21, hopes to get that chance in, say, four more years.

“I feel 10 times more motivated,” she said. “I just want to jump back in the water and start training now.”

Once the swimming events ended, Quance could forget about training for a while.

She watched the men’s gold-medal volleyball match next to Al and Tipper Gore. Even spoke with the vice president about school, of which she has one year left at USC.

She also discovered the golden arches.

“It was really bad because there was [a McDonald’s] really close to our dorm,” said Quance, who wouldn’t disclose how many times she indulged. “But it was after I was done swimming.”

Quance took part in the closing ceremonies and, three days later, was on the White House lawn waiting to meet President Clinton, who invited the Olympic athletes there.

Each athlete took a photo with Clinton, who may or may not still be in the White House in 2000. But Quance knows where she wants to be.

“I’m still improving,” she said. “Most people I know started swimming when they were five or six. I didn’t start until I was 10 or 11, which is kind of late. I still love it. I just want to get in there and train my butt off.”

*

Arus Gyulbudakian was representing Armenia in the Olympic springboard competition and, judging from her position, she knew she was in trouble.

She had to dive in between USA’s Jenny Keim and Melisa Moses, not exactly an easy task.

“They’d get eights and then I’d do better dives than them and get fives from the judges,” said Gyulbudakian, who will be a senior at Van Nuys High in the fall. “The crowd started booing.

“Someone came up to me and told me, ‘The judges must think the Cold War is still going on.’ ”

Gyulbudakian was in 16th place heading into her final dive of the preliminaries. The top 18 advance to the semifinals.

She attempted her best dive--a front three-and-a-half somersault--but opened up a little bit early. Fives. Five-and-a-halves.

She fell to 20th and was out of the competition.

Good effort despite a fever and an earache. She flew home shortly after her event ended.

Gyulbudakian, 17, has been in America for five years. She has a good chance at obtaining American citizenship within the next year, which brings up a dilemma: If she qualifies, would she compete in the next Olympics as an American or an Armenian.

For now, she’s keeping one foot in the water, one out.

“I’d like to have dual citizenship,” she said.

A second dilemma--where she will go to college--is quickly solving itself.

Miami, Harvard and USC are all interested in Gyulbudakian. She’s mostly interested in staying in California.

Said Gyulbudakian: “I get homesick.”