The Russells' 1-2 Punch

Trained by Their Father, Capitol Heights Brothers Have Their Sights Set on Boxing Gold at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing

The buzzer sounds and a father frets. On a stagnant spring afternoon, Gary Russell Sr. mounts his customary ringside stool at the Nomis Boxing Community Center on 10th Street NE and watches his oldest sons, Gary Jr. and Allan, as they spar once again.

It is both a joy and a burden for the man who coaches them, molding them for years in the makeshift gym he created from his basement in the family house on Omaha Street in Capitol Heights. Gary Jr., who turns 19 next week, is the No. 1-ranked amateur in the country at 119 pounds and is a heavy favorite to make next year's U.S. Olympic team. Allan, 17, is rising fast in the 132-pound class and is a legitimate Olympic contender himself.

What an amazing story it would be: two kids from the same house, the same basement in Capitol Heights, on the same Olympic team.

And yet, like fathers do, Gary Sr. worries. Does he have them prepared well? Is Gary Jr. obsessing over the Olympics? Will Allan's attention be where it should? He watches his sons punch -- Allan charging like he does best, Gary Jr. deftly sidestepping the danger, and he begins to relax. But only slightly.

Once, they were the best secret in boxing. Yet even in the basement, Gary Sr. anticipated greatness for his boys, naming all five after himself, Gary A. Russell, much the way heavyweight fighter George Foreman did many years before (though out of obvious necessity, only Gary Jr. carries the first name; the others go by their middle names). But things have changed. The Russells have a gym -- Nomis -- where they go every day. And Gary Jr. has been the top-ranked American in his weight class for almost two years. They are a secret no more. Suddenly everyone is watching.

On Saturday, the U.S. Championships begin in Colorado Springs, the final step before the Olympic team trials in August. Gary Jr. (known to the family as Little Gary) has secured a place in the August tournament and Allan needs to win only two fights at the U.S. Championships to join him. But there is a sudden gravity to the bouts now. Everything starts to matter.

"Do you worry?" Gary Sr. was asked.

"Without a doubt," he replied.

All it takes is five minutes of watching Little Gary and Allan fight to know they are nothing alike. Gary, wispy and quick, flies around the ring, relying on a mix of speed and jabs to perplex his opponents. Allan, slightly stockier and with thicker arms, is a puncher who wades forward into battle with combinations of heavy throws.

It's a contrast that makes for great theater. Allan lunges straight at his older brother at one point, landing a couple of shots that appear for a moment to rattle Little Gary. But Little Gary responds by dancing away and then darting in toward Allan to deliver a combination to the head before Allan has a chance to react.

"They're night and day," Gary Sr. likes to say of his two oldest boys. When it comes to fighting, he loves these differences because he always has believed each fighter should be able to express his own personality in the way he fights.

But their contrasts also can confound him.