Olympians Blair, Morales honored COLORADO SPRINGS. Colo. (AP) — They were supposed to be too old to lx- Olympians, let alone Olympic winners But speedskater Bonnie Blair and swimmer Pablo Morales each won a pair of gold medals in 1992. and those feats earned them further honors Tuesday Blair and Morales, both 2H. were named the U S Olympic Committee s Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year Blair became the first Ameri can woman to win the same event at two consecutive Win ter Games when she took the 500 meters at Albertville, then added the gold in the 1.000. She had won gold in the 500 and bronze in the 1.00(1 four years earlier, at Calgary. Morales came out of retire ment to win gold medals in the 100-meter butterfly and as part of the men's 400-meter medley relay team at the Summer Games in Barcelona. Both athletes find themselves fending off ever-younger oppo nents as they ponder their com petitive mortality And both ad mit feeling the years add up. "I c an tell I'm getting a little older." Blair said. "I find little nagging things affecting me 1 have to be more careful in mv training, and physical therapy takes a little bit longer. "I sprained both of my ankles last summer, which was kind ot frustrating. 1 find I'm doing things to myself 1 haven't done in the past I don't know il it's because of old age, but that's what I'm attributing it to.” Blair isn't ready to surrender to the aches and pains. ht>we\ er She will compete in one more Olympics — the 1994 Winter Games in l.illehommer. Norway. Mad the Olvmpn movement not switched to two-vear inter vals between the Winter and Summer Games. Blair might have been finished "Four years is a long way away.” she said "I would lie al most 32 then." But with the next Winter Olympics just two years after Albertville. Blair decided last June to take another shot Preparing for the world championships next month in japan, Blair sa\s her "longer distances have been going 1»‘t ter than my shorter ones, which is kind of surprising bei atise the 500 is mv favorite race " Morales sa\s he's less likely to compete in another Olym pics. "I suppose there's a possibil ity — a very small possibility — that I'll l>e competing hi At lanta (in 1‘1'itij,” he said "I really see myself liemg a sptx tator there "M\ goal last year was to get to Barcelona and give the gold medal a shot 1 have put law si hool on hold for a couple of years now I’m eager to gel bai k to that " Morales, who has been mak ing personal appearances around the country, will con tinue training until he returns to Cornell l.aw School next fall "I've set some personal goals. DiTKA Continued from Page 12 a 20-0 lead in the fourth quar ter Then |im Harbaugh then threw an inten:eption on an au dit>le that was returned for a tou< tidown Ditka exploded on the sidelines, and the Hears blew the lead and lost 21-20 Two weeks later, when he was again questioned about "The Audible," Dilka went into a rage at his press < onterem e and said. plays I've been t aim and one I've been exc ited You think tins is a damn soap opera." That was the end of his weekly Monday press confer ences After a 20 17 loss at Tampa Hav. he had to be restrained from going into the stands tor a fan who ''called me a bad name.” And after a in-t loss at De troit. Ditka was stung when Mi (iaskev said lie would evaluate tht* learn at the end ol the sea son Hut then Ditkil said he would make his own evaluation, and that the only wav he would stay with the team "is d I i an control it We've hit bottom " That might have sealed his fate. Ditka ranks second among Bears i oar lies in both tenure and victories trailing only the late George Hulas, the team s founder Hulas coached Ditka from the ticginniiig of Ins |>lu\ mg career in 1‘M>1 until he was traded in l‘tt)7 after a contract dispute But that didn't prevent Hulas from selecting Ditka as the Bears' loth i ouch on |un 70. 10H7 Ditka took over a team that had only two winning seasons i n I he prev ions t‘1 He re vamped the team and the Bears were 11-14 his first two sea sons BOBO Continued from Page 12 Hobo said alter speaking with Washington State math Mike Priti' WSt receivers coach Mike Levenseller and former \\ St coact) Dennis hrickson. who rer.ruited Hobo (jetore becoming Mi ami's ( uacb, "it c onfused me a lot They didn't like it very much, but they support mv dm ision," Bobo said. I just felt it's time for me to do something else The op portunitv is there. I just want to grab it while I < an Bobo said it Bledsoe would have staved in school, lie might have stayed But, Bobo added. I don't lack confidence in Mike Pattinson at all Mike's going to In- real good lie has a lot of tilings that Drew doesn't have ' Pattinson, a redshirt junior, figures to be the Cougars starting quarterback next season. Bobo had 51 receptions for 759 yards and six touchdowns as a freshman in 1990, 54 receptions for 759 yards and six tou< hdowns in 1991. and 4:t re< options for 665 yards and four touchdowns this season. He caught at least one pass in his last J9 games Bobo, a 5-foot-11, 185-pounder, attended Moreno Valley. Calif High School. He sat out the 1989 season at WSU before playing the next three seasons. "I'm going to help him find an agent." Ron Brown, a former player in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Raiders, told the AP "We re going to talk to a few agents." and I have .i c ham ** to build on lust year's performance," Mo rales said "I'm hoping to im prove on the time I swam in Barcelona, trv to come close to a life-best time, whic h would Im> close to the world record." Morales said the reaction to his Olympic performance ' made me realize what a iongshot people considered un to In* I never felt I was that much of a Iongshot." The Sportsman of the Year award, he said, "just boggles the mind This is an award I'll treasure until I'm old and gray, or should I say older and grayer " In balloting by a national panel of journalists and l’StM! officials. Morales, of Santa Clara, Calif , received 1.191 points to l.OfiO for runnerup Kevin Young, who won the men's -tOO-meter hurdles in Barcelona Bruce Baumgartner, gold medalist in 1 to kilogram freestyle wrestling, was third with 981 points $j 00 OFF