European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 24 the stars and stripes monday March 21.19b8 for Elfberg wrestler has Golden goal by Tracy Tanner Surit Tirier Neiss. West Germany like the 49crs who nihed to California in search of Gold. A filler can be seen in Ken Popelka s eyes. He Loo has he fever. Bui 1 inc aka s fever Dwyn l Deal Wii wielding 20 Pound picks or panning in the gurgling California so cams hoping to Hil the Mother lode. It does Deal however As did these Early dreamers with a strike thai May Only come once in a lifetime. His fever is wrapped up in the olympic wrestling Gold and if he s Good enough his sweat and desire May pah out. He s been venting his desires by wading through the Usarek All army and enter service Waterways and so far. Hat reaped a Good Many nuggets. But he still has t Hil the big vein. Thai s in Seoul South Korea this summer. In the meantime Popelka continues panning spa a slug his flaws from what works on the mat and keep ing the fever burning. Last week Popika a Fried Borg Soldier temporarily on duly at fort Campbell ky., returned to Ger Many. He and seven other . Military madmen Are Here to prime for the olympic trials by participating in International meets. They made their debut at Neuss saturday. Popelka lost his first match but won his second. Twenty five countries sent their National teams and. Is Popelka s Navy i Cammac Rob Hermann explained the . Team had the Chance to wrestle the Best in the world. Thin was just one More Stop in Popelka s Short Span As an army wrestler. But it was somewhat different because it was itis first International meet. Popelka began wrestling for the army to years ago when he Law a notice on the fort Campbell gym Bulle tin Board seeking wrestlers to Start a team. On a whim. I Opolka signed up and began wrestling. He made the All army team that first year and went onto heroine inc no. 5 i 36 v Pounder in the . After that he received orders to Germany where he Ronny fed wrestling on even higher Levels. This season i Opelka Lias claimed Usa eur and All army titles. At the inter Scricc meet he won u Gold in the freestyle Cump Clinion and a Silver in Greco Koman. I item to the number one Guy in the .," Popelka claimed he s buddy Lee. A member of the number one National  win or Low Popika still gained a Chance at the olympic trials in Boca Raton Fla May 12.1 f he dots Well there he will travel on to the finals in Pensacola fla., in june. From there it s the olympics although Popelka fared belter in the freestyle com petition during the inter service my he has been concentrating strictly on Greco roman and will wrestle that style when the olympic trials Roll around. And thai suits the l.16 i Pounder just Fine. Greco is the style like Best said 1 Opelka. I was raised on a farm in Wisconsin and have always had upper body strength. I m a hard  hut the hard worker voiced some frustration in the role racing of his find internal ional meet. The refs Call cautions too  he said. That Means you re not working hard enough and i can t believe that. I really work hard out  i Opelka went on to say that hard work is an essential part of his strategy. I push a Guy until he 515 a noun by to Jar t Usa eur s Ken Popika of works on his austrian foe in third round of International rolling Tecl at cuss. Gives  Bui giving up is something Popelke won t do. At 25, has a contingency plan in mind if he does t make the olympics for 88 that would be the olympics of 92. Because be has had so Little experience at this level of wrestling but has done so Well Popelka s coach Floyd Winter has great  for him. The coach said in the nest four years i should own my weight  perhaps a Lall order but win Ter is the one to make a judgment like that. Winter s experience Dales Back to the 70s when he was inc one on the Mats. Before he finished he look 13 in scr Vicc championships Sis Greco and seven freestyle. Since then he has coached eight All army teams and the National team. Last year his army team was second in inc nationals. Winter Winter has seen wrestlers from each of the services As Well As College level but he is convinced that the Usa eur program is inc Best route because of the various opportunities for Competition. They Start out with the Community and corps level championships move to us a eur then to All army and incr service plus there s the German clubs thai invite soldiers to compete in their meets Winters explained. There s nowhere else an athlete could train year round and gel paid for it. And of course inc army gets Back what they put into these at Nicl through Public relations and Pride he said. Popika agrees with Winter his advice to High school wrestlers is to join the service right out of school and try to get one of the College fund options. Popika believes the High Quality coaching coupled with the opportune pics of compete on higher Levels is the Best train ing a wrestler can get. However Popelka s army career has suffered slightly because of inc Lime up Cal toward his wrestling goals. He arrived in Friedburg in August of s7 and wrestled for v corps and filled the Slot of the assistant armorer for e co in in. Lgth inf. In december he left his unit to attend the All army meet then on to Intel service and finally training for the nationals and the olympic trials. That does t leave much Lime for advancement in the ranks. But the advancement Popelka is looking for has nothing to do Puli answering questions memorized the night before for a promotion Board. His advancement will come from the sweat of his brow. The hard work and dedication Popika has devoted to his sport May culminate in the Opportunity of com Peting for an olympic Gold. The . Team next sees action no Schif Forstadt near Mannheim tuesday when it takes on teams from Hungary and West Germany. The Competition starts at 5 p.m., and an admission fee of 12 Marks will be charged. Alpiger takes men s downhill finale Are. Sweden api Karl Alpiger won the men s downhill season finale and fellow Swiss Pirmin Zurbriggen clinched his second straight world cup title in the toughest of Alpine skiing s disciplines sunday. Alpiger Winner of Only one previous Walil cup downhill clocked i minute 1,1,4 seconds Down the Olympia count which was shortened to 2,890 meters be cause of Strong winds and poor visibility. Dini a Shari Logitu of Italy finished second in 1 4-1.97. And Franz Heiner of Switzerland was third in 1 45.08. Zurbriggen the olympic Champion finished 12th in 1 46,17. List the Swiss All round Ace who placed 17th in sat urday s slalom was second in the combined and regained the world cup Over All Lead from Alberto Tomb a fully. Tomba the double olympic Champi on won the slalom saturday but did t compete sunday. Michael Mair of Italy was fourth in the downhill in 1 45.27. He needed to win and have Zurbriggen  13ih or worse to claim the downhill title. Zurbriggen became the first skier 1o win consecutive downhill world cup lilies since fellow Swiss Peter Mueller in 1980-81. But Zurbriggen who has struggled in Gale races this season rated his Chance As slim for defending the world cup Overall title helcans Tomba 260-236. "1 think Tomba Wilt win he said. There Are four races left in the season to slalom one giant slalom and one super giant slalom. The next race is a slalom at Opdal Norway tuesday. The Victory marked n remarkable comeback for Alpiger who took a bad spill during preseason training and has had problems in this season s races. Alpiger who suffered head injuries and had problems with his balance for several weeks after the fall did not com pole in the olympics last month. The Siart of the race was delayed Al Musl two hours because of weather conditions. Seven skiers had comp cled inc course in snowy conditions when the race jury ordered a restart. Gunter Mader of Austria was the combined Winner. He placed third in sat urday s slalom and 36lh in the downhill. Jeff Olson of Rozeman mont., finished 40th in the downhill for the Best placing by . Skier among the 8i starters. Blair Scofes to win in world cup 7,500 Heeren Veen Netherlands Al j american Speed skater Bonnie Blair won the  Nice in the final series of inc world cup skating circuit sunday. Blair who won a Gold and a Bronze medal in the Caj Piry olym pics was timed in 2 minutes 4.67 seconds Blair was Well ahead of her opponents dutch skater Petra Mool Hui in and Erwina Hys of Pollind. Who both finished in 2 06.52. Katie class of the United slates placed fifth. Blair finished first in the Overall world cup 1 .500-meter standings