Beck's Good Boys

WEST GERMANY, ITALY, FRANCE, HUNGARY AND THE U.S.S.R. figure to
take home most of the 24 individual and team medals in fencing. In
men's foil, one of Emil Beck's stable of stars, Mathias Gey, the 1987
world champion, is a good bet for gold, but he will be challenged by
his Tauberbischofsheim teammate Matthias Behr, the '84 silver
medalist who was second to Gey at last year's worlds, and two
Italians, '84 gold medalist Mauro Numa and Andrea Borella.
Epeeist Alexander Pusch, another of Beck's talented charges, is
favored over World Cup champion Sandro Cuomo of Italy and Andrei
Chouvalov of the U.S.S.R., who's ranked seventh in the world.
In L.A., Peter Westbrook won the U.S.'s first fencing medal since
1960 -- a boycott-aided bronze in saber. Westbrook is back, but it
will be Jean-Francois Lamour of France, '84 gold medalist, vying
for gold against Gyorgy Nebald of Hungary and Andrei Alchan of the
U.S.S.R.
The best U.S. hope for a medal is Caitlin Bilodeaux in women's
foil. Although Sharon Monplaisir displaced her this year as U.S.
champion, Bilodeaux, who won the Pan Am Games and was 44th in the
world last year, has more international seasoning. Here again, West
Germany has two of the favorites, Anja Fichtel for the gold and Zita
Funkenhauser for bronze, both Beck-coached. Szuzsanna Janosi of
Hungary, the World Cup champion, Luan Jujie of China, '84 gold
medalist, and Elisabeta Tufan of Romania, current world champion, are
all expected to be tough in Seoul.