Run DownU.S. track favorites were overtaken by a cast of golden opportunistsby Tim Layden
In a corner of Olympic Stadium last night, Gail Devers stripped to her racing unitard and moved toward the starting blocks. Slightly less than 100 meters away, a track official in jacket and tie adjusted the last hurdle in Devers's lane, the one that she had failed to clear four years ago at the Barcelona Games when, en route to apparent victory, she landed on her face. The official moved the hurdle left, then right, and finally stuck it in place on the orange track. And there was the reminder for Devers and for everyone sitting in the evening haze: It is not easy to win two Olympic gold medals. It is not easy to win even one.
Gray (far right) set a torrid early pace, then couldn't catch the record-setting Rodal.
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Nights at the stadium in these Games have unfolded with patriotic zeal. Americans run, Americans are cheered. Often, Americans win. Kenny Harrison and Devers on Saturday; Charles Austin on Sunday; Allen Johnson, Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson on Monday. Wear a blue uniform, win a gold medal. Hear the cheers. Last night the crowd shook the bowl to its girders when U.S. runner Marc Davis won a semifinal heat of the 3,000-meter steeplechase.
U.S. athletes seemed poised to augment their medal haul last night, what with Devers attempting not only to right a four-year-old wrong but also to complete a sprint-hurdle double that hadn't been achieved since 1948; with 36-year-old Johnny Gray running from the front in the 800; and with Kim Batten and Tonja Buford-Bailey, 1-2 at last year's World Championships, seeded that way in the 400 hurdles. Yet just as 400-meter gold medalist Johnson began to make the quest for his own double look easy in qualifying for tomorrow night's 200 semifinals, Devers was denied by Lyudmila Engquist, Gray faded to seventh in the fastest Olympic 800 ever, and Batten and Buford-Bailey came in 2-3 behind a brave Jamaican named Deon Hemmings.
Even the world's greatest pole vaulter, Sergei Bubka of Ukraine, withdrew from the Games, his injured right Achilles tendon reducing him to a pained limp. "Normally I am a good fighter," Bubka said. "But today I could not make any movement. It's a big tragedy for me. I guess the Olympics are not for me."
With each of these small dramas, gold looks more precious.
Devers (bottom) negotiated the final hurdle this time, but by then Engquist (center) was clear.
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Devers had struggled to finish third in her afternoon semifinal, but she has typically been a brilliant big-race athlete, as evidenced by her victory over Merlene Ottey of Jamaica and Gwen Torrence of the U.S. in Saturday's 100. Last night, however, Devers was left in her crouch; she reached the first of the 10 hurdles in seventh place. Brigita Bukovec of Slovenia tore away to a big lead by the middle of the race, and only at the eighth hurdle did Engquist catch her. They hit the line in stride, Engquist winning by .01 of a second, in 12.58. Devers finished fourth, in 12.66.
"Her bad mistake was losing that tenth of a second to the first hurdle," said Bob Kersee, Devers's coach. "She tried to press through the race and ran out of real estate."
In many ways, Engquist was the unlikeliest of champions. Competing for the Soviet Union as Lyudmila Narozhilenko in 1991, she won the world championship. But in February 1993 she was handed a four-year steroid suspension, which was rescinded in December 1995 after her husband, Nikolai, admitted substituting steroids for her protein supplements in anger over the couple's impending separation. She moved to Sweden, married Johan Engquist and was granted permission to compete for Sweden on July 5. In all, she didn't train seriously for more than three years and was slowed most recently by a pair of knee surgeries last summer.
The three-year wait granted her perspective. "I would have been happy with second place," Engquist said, recalling the long moments before the tight photo finish was deciphered.
O'Brien got an early jump on the competition in the decathlon, but he is still only halfway to a gold.
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There was no wait for Gray but rather a slow, painful death for a man who went immediately to the front. In Barcelona, Gray ran the first lap in 49.99, and last night he was even faster, at 49.55. He still led at 600 meters, but then the kickers began reeling him in. The most forceful was Norway's Vebjoern Rodal, who held off Hezekiel Sepeng of South Africa in an Olympic record 1:42.58. Four men broke 1:43, a spectacular feat made possible by Gray's fast early pace. As the runners milled in the belly of the stadium afterward, Rodal, who has often trained in a 350-meter tunnel to avoid harsh winters, approached Gray. "You were my inspiration and my motivation," he said. "I hope I have a career like yours."
Hemmings's work in the 400 hurdles mirrored Gray's. Running between Batten on her outside and Buford-Bailey on her inside, Hemmings passed Batten early. She had been motivated by whispers within the last month that three U.S. women would sweep the event. At that time she approached U.S. 400 runner Sandra Farmer-Patrick, who trains on the same track in Austin. "You can scratch out all those names," Hemmings said, "and put mine on top."
She held her form through the stretch, keeping Batten at bay and never letting Buford-Bailey within range. Her time of 52.82 was an Olympic record. And hers was a victory with arresting historical significance: She is the first Jamaican woman to win a gold medal. And that, too, tells of the value of gold, when you consider that Ottey (one silver, four bronzes) does not possess one.
Tonight Johnson runs for his second gold, trying to turn away 100 medalists Frankie Fredericks of Namibia and Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago. "He's vulnerable if he loses a shoe," said Boldon. And Dan O'Brien of the U.S., who after five events led the decathlon by 124 points, continues his pursuit of an elusive first gold.
Both need only look at Devers for perspective. At the end of her race she stood next to the track, looking resignedly at the scoreboard, her extraordinarily long fingernails painted gold, on fourth-place hands.
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Despite Carl Lewis's very public campaign for inclusion on the U.S. 4x100 relay team, which would give him a chance at a record 10th Olympic gold medal on Saturday night, U.S.track and field coach Erv Hunt reaffirmed yesterday that Lewis will not be a member of the relay, which begins preliminary rounds tomorrow morning. "Everything is the same," Hunt said. "We had a policy where you had to be at the [North Carolina pre-Olympic] camp" to have a chance at making the team. Lewis refused to attend the camp.
But last night at Olympic Stadium, none other than Michael Johnson threw his support behind Lewis. "I've always believed that you put your four best people on the team," said Johnson, who is not on it. "Carl has more experience than all the other guys combined." Johnson cited the way the U.S. team, without Lewis, bungled the pass of the baton last year at the World Championships in Göteborg, Sweden. "If winning is the objective, if I was the coach, I'd put Carl on the relay," Johnson declared. The door for Lewis remains intriguingly ajar, because two of his Santa Monica Club teammates, Leroy Burrell and Mike Marsh, are in the relay, along with Jon Drummond and Dennis Mitchell. Marsh, who will run tonight in the 200 meters, may withdraw from the relay. Last night Marsh did not discount the possibility of stepping aside but said, "Today [it] is premature to make that decision." Drummond, who will run the first leg of the relay, said, "It's been a dream of mine to run on a relay team with Carl Lewis. But you have four [other] people trying to live out their Olympic dreams too." Besides, Drummond added, "[Carl] was buck-naked last [in the 100] at the trials." He paused. "Sorry, Carl." —T.L.
SI Olympic Dailies
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