THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : Roundup : Phillips Discovers Gold on the Floor

Kristie Phillips turned off her tears and turned in a gold medal performance.

Phillips, the national champion from Baton Rouge, La., who cried when she had to settle for the silver medal in the all-around Saturday, won a gold medal in the floor exercise and a bronze in the vault Sunday at the Pan American Games.

“I just wanted to do the very best I could because the meet so far hadn’t been very good for me and I wanted to end on a high note,” Phillips said.

She scored a 9.813 on her final routine, and her overall score of 19.538 was a Pan Am record that bettered the mark of 19.43 set by Avis Tieber of the United States in 1963.

Kelly Garrison Steves, 20, of Altus, Okla., won the gold medal on the balance beam, and Melissa Marlowe, 15, took the gold on the uneven bars, while U.S. teammate Sabrina Mar, 17, of Monterey Park, Calif., won two silvers and a bronze during individual event competition.

Brazil, which had not won a Pan Am gold medal in tennis for 20 years, won two of them when Fernando Roese beat Al Parker for the men’s singles title and Gisele Miro routed Adrianna Isaza of Colombia in the women’s final.

Roese, seeded fifth, defeated Parker, of Claxton, Ga., 6-4, 6-2. Earlier, Miro, the top-seeded woman, disposed of Isaza, 6-0, 6-2, to give Brazil its first gold in tennis since Thomas Koch won singles and doubles championships in 1967.

“I think it means Brazilian tennis is on the map again,” said Koch, coach of the Brazilian team. “It’s been 20 years, and we’ve been trying to recuperate for a long time . . . This will show people in Brazil there is a possibility if programs are started for young people.”

MEDAL STANDINGS

Final G S B Tot United States 168 118 83 369 Cuba 75 52 48 175 Canada 30 57 75 162 Brazil 14 14 33 61 Argentina 12 14 22 48 Mexico 9 11 18 38 Puerto Rico 3 6 20 29 Venezuela 3 11 12 26 Colombia 3 8 13 24 Jamaica 2 3 8 13 Dom. Republic 0 3 9 12 Costa Rica 3 4 4 11 Uruguay 2 2 3 7 Chile 1 2 4 7 Peru 0 4 2 6 Ecuador 0 1 5 6 Bahamas 0 2 3 5 Panama 0 3 1 4 Suriname 1 0 1 2 Trinidad 0 1 1 2 U.S. Virgin Is. 0 1 1 2 Guatemala 0 0 2 2 Net. Antilles 0 0 1 1 Bermuda 0 0 1 1 Paraguay 0 0 1 1 El Salvador 0 0 1 1 Guyana 0 0 1 1