South Korea Athletics

Chairs, water bottles and fists, ungloved ones, flew in Ring B at the Olympic boxing arena Thursday morning when outraged South Koreans attacked a referee. The mini-riot broke out seconds after Bulgaria's Alexander Hristov had been awarded a 4-1 decision over South Korea's Byun Jong-il. A South Korean coach and a team manager entered the ring first, the team manager grabbing the referee, Keith Walker of New Zealand, by the arm and shouting in his face.

In diplomacy and politics, connections matter. Kim Un Yong, a powerful and influential South Korean, has spent a lifetime making connections. Some say he learned how things work when he was a spy for his country's infamous CIA. He says no, not true, he never was a spy. But by all accounts he is shrewd. And savvy. And he has long been giving of his time and generous with money, apparently living a credo he repeats often: "All in life is human relations."

In what promises to be a historic illustration of the symbolic power of sports to bring people together, the two Koreas will march as one in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Summer Games, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch confirmed Sunday night. Athletes from North and South Korea will walk together Friday night into Stadium Australia, wearing the same uniform and walking behind the Korean "unification flag," Samaranch said.

In what promises to be a historic illustration of the symbolic power of sports to bring people together, the two Koreas will march as one in the opening ceremony of the Sydney Summer Games, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch confirmed Sunday night. Athletes from North and South Korea will walk together Friday night into Stadium Australia, wearing the same uniform and walking behind the Korean "unification flag," Samaranch said.

In the minds of South Koreans, history corrected itself in the men's marathon Sunday. The last time a Korean had won this race was in 1936, when Japanese troops occupied his nation. In that Olympic marathon, Sohn Kee Chung was forced to wear a Japanese uniform and take a Japanese name, Kitei Son. When he won the 26.2-mile race, the Japanese flag was raised and the Japanese anthem played.

Last May, an NBC crew hired some drivers and a translator and drove a couple of hours outside of Seoul to Kojin, a small commercial fishing village on the coast of the Sea of Japan. They were to film a four-minute segment to be aired during the Olympics' 15-day boxing tournament, which begins Saturday.

Two British athletes, sprinter Linford Christie and a judo medalist, tested positive for drugs in the first round of testing, the British Olympic Assn. said Friday. Christie, a former European champion and a silver medalist in the men's 100 meters, tested positive for pseudoephedrine, association spokeswoman Caroline Searle said. Searle described the drug as "a low-dose stimulant found in cold and hay fever preparations."

South Korea informed the International Olympic Committee that it has accepted a final IOC proposal on sharing part of the 1988 Summer Olympics with North Korea. Kim Chong-ha, president of the South Korean National Olympic Committee, sent a reply to IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch saying Seoul agreed to let North Korea stage archery, table tennis, women's volleyball, one of the soccer preliminary groups and the 100-kilometer cycling team time trial, according to a spokesman for Kim.

Six days after enraged South Koreans poured into a ring at the Olympic boxing venue and attacked a referee, the question as to who is running the boxing tournament here seems to have been answered. The Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee (SLOOC) appears to be running the show, not the International Amateur Boxing Assn. (AIBA). After the melee, a seething AIBA president, Anwar Chowdhry of Pakistan, suspended five South Koreans for their role in the melee for the duration of the Olympics.

Five South Korean boxing officials were thrown out of the Olympic Games Thursday for their roles in an assault on a referee earlier in the day. "If I had my way, they would be suspended for life," said a seething Anwar Chowdry, president of the International Amateur Boxing Assn. (AIBA), in announcing the suspensions. In a statement made about 10 hours after the mini-riot, Chowdry indicated that he had, at least briefly, considered canceling the rest of the boxing tournament.

Samuel Gonzalez caught peeks of the big game on his television set as he mixed the bread dough at Los Hornos bakery in Santa Ana. At the nearby El Paso Shoes, manager Florencio Alcocer and customers seemed more interested in the game than in selecting the right pair of tennis shoes.

A stunning first-half goal by South Korea left Mexico's loyal legions gasping in disbelief. A dozen dumbstruck fans walked out of a Huntington Park eatery, convinced that, once again, Mexico would be humiliated on the international stage. But, at a Koreatown hotel, the scene was dramatically different. Before the Spanish-language announcer could finish enunciating his trademark "Gooooooaaal!," avid fans were on their feet, cheering along with their delirious compatriots in the stands in France.

BELGIUM * World Cup Record: Played 29, won nine, lost 16, tied four, goals for 37, goals against 53. * Best Finish: Fourth place, 1986. * 1994 Showing: Eliminated by Germany in the second round. * Coach: Georges Leekens. Trying to make the jump from club coach to national coach in a hurry. * Players to Watch: Luis Oliveira, Nico Van Kerckhoven, Luc Nilis, Enzo Scifo.

In a stunning, precedent-setting and highly controversial decision Friday, FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, awarded World Cup 2002 to Japan and South Korea. That's right, both countries. Never before in the 66-year history of soccer's quadrennial world championship tournament have two nations shared the finals. The action in Zurich opens the way for other, smaller countries to submit joint bids in the future.

What World Cup '94 had been missing until now, it finally found in the furnace-like heat of Texas--an exceptional game that will be talked about for years to come. The final statistics will show that Germany defeated South Korea before a sellout crowd of 63,998 at the Cotton Bowl, 3-2. But they will not show the drama and the passion, the energy and the emotion that made this the finest game of the tournament.

So much for boring soccer. In a game filled with controversy, intrigue and a dramatic comeback, South Korea did not wait long to stun the soccer world on a steamy Friday evening in Texas. Playing with a man advantage from the 26th minute, underrated Korea turned a seemingly devastating defeat into a surprising draw, tying Spain, 2-2, before 56,247 at the Cotton Bowl on the first day of the World Cup.

The cause of Thursday morning's melee at the Olympic Games boxing tournament is not hard to pinpoint. The South Korean boxing federation is well-funded, well-organized and is staffed with the best coaches money can hire. The problem is, South Korean boxers don't know how to box. Their frustration over a disappointing showing here in front of their countrymen set the stage for what happened Thursday morning.

As if playing on their home pitch isn't enough incentive, South Korean soccer players will receive sedans from one of the country's major automobile manufacturers, Daewoo, if they win enough games in the Summer Olympics. In this case, enough doesn't mean that they have to win a medal, or even reach the medal round. All it means is that they have to advance to the second round. To do that, they have to win two of the three games against the other teams in their group.

GROUP C at Cotton Bowl, Dallas Spain vs. South Korea * TIME: 4:35 p.m. PDT. * TV: ESPN2; ESPN, 10:25 p.m. PDT, delayed. * KEY MATCHUPS: This could be just the kind of game to keep the American public from catching soccer fever, especially in Texas. Neither team is known for its scoring, but aficionados will have plenty to savor. The play from midfield back might prove to be the difference. If nothing else, the game will provide a contrast in styles.

Daniel Choi was confident his performance on the mound for Long Beach State last season would result in a contract offer from a major league organization. And after he finished 17-2 with a 2.57 earned-run average, the Oakland Athletics selected the sophomore in the 14th round of last summer's amateur draft. Choi, however, was not enticed by the A's offer. He made plans to return to school and help Long Beach return to the College World Series.