Souhan: Katie Smith, all American

Last update: August 8, 2008 - 2:38 PM

By JIM SOUHAN

jsouhan@startribune.com

Greetings from Beijing, City of Industrial Steam.

Seriously. Visibility might be a mile or less, which is a shame when you're trying to sightsee. Here, it's more like sight-smelling.

Couple of notes:

• Katie Smith, the former Lynx player and USA basketball stalwart, was asked about Becky Hammon, the South Dakota native who is playing for the Russian Olympic team.

Smith noted that she didn't make the U.S. team in 1996, but said she would never consider trying to play for another country.

"To each her own,'' Smith said. "Becky made a decision for herself. Personally, that's not the route I would take. I would exhaust all options to play for my country. For me, the Olympics are about representing my country.''

Smith will write a weekly blog for USA basketball, but doesn't foresee a second career. "I'm not into constant blogging,'' she said. "If you want to get ahold of me, you better call. I don't feel bad about missing emails. That's not my thing.''

• USA wrestler Marcie Van Dusen, who spent a semester at Minnesota-Morris, offered this explanation for getting into her sport:

"I was eight, and my brother would come home from wrestling practice and try out all of his moves on me, so I figured I had to find a way to fight back,'' she said. "Coach asked me if i wanted to wrestle, and i showed up for practice, and I learned how to fight back.

"But he still beats me up. He's 32 now, and I get home and give him a big hug and it ends up being a headlock and I end up on the ground.

"I'm 26 now. It's embarrassing. I'm waiting. I'm going to get him. It will happen eventually. He needs to get a little older and a little fatter.''

Teammate Randi Miller had a different story about getting into wrestling. "I got cut from the basketball team,'' she said.

What if she had made the basketball team? "That,'' she said, "would have ruined my life.''

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