AMERICAN OLYMPIC STARS

O'Connor's quick scan of Americans who have won multiple gold medals mentions hardy Alfred Oerter (discus wins in four successive Olympiads) and the great one-shot effort of long jumper Bob Beamon as well as the better known feats of Wilma Rudolph, Mark Spitz, and others. The early games, in which one marathoner hitched a ride for most of the course and nearly collected his medal anyway, sound nostalgically informal, but for the most part O'Connor gets little mileage out of the performances, and the emphasis on American-dominated events and well-publicized superstars is deadening.