BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS : SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : VOLLEYBALL GROUP HAD A CLEAR SHOT

U.S. volleyball player Steve Timmons, who is trying to become the first person in the sport to win three gold medals, said that the International Volleyball Federation was in a no-lose situation Monday when it voted to overturn the United States’ victory over Japan.

“It was a political decision in that Japan is a big sponsor of volleyball,” he said. “The sport has a big following there, and there’s a lot of money behind it.

“But they must have also been thinking about all the press this controversy would get in the United States. We won two gold medals and didn’t get this much attention. It has added to the sport’s visibility in the United States.”

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant, all Times-Mirror newspapers.