Not So FastWith a dramatic final qualifying jump, Carl Lewis delayed Michael Johnson's coronation as king of trackby Tim Layden
The passage almost occurred one day early. At 8:37 last night Michael Johnson rolled down the homestretch of Olympic Stadium, disdainfully looking left and right, running with such ease that it seems silly for seven other men to take lanes and test him in tonight's 400-meter final. Afterward he raised his arms to the dark, hazy sky and acknowledged the roars that embraced him. Then he pulled off one of his golden spiked shoes and heaved it into the seats.
Austin raised the high jump bar and rose to the top.
photograph by
Two hundred meters away and two minutes later, Carl Lewis stood near the end of the long jump runway, gently rocking. In pursuit of his fourth consecutive gold medal in the event, he was on the brink of elimination, and it was only the qualifying round. He had been in the stadium for nearly four hours, trying to meet the modest standard of 26'5" or finish among the top 12 jumpers, and now, as he prepared for the last of his three jumps, he stood 15th, with a best jump of 26'1/4". It was an unfamiliar and embarrassing place for the greatest athlete in track and field history competing in his last Olympics. "I was thinking that I didn't want this to be my last jump in the Olympic Games," Lewis said later. "That was my motivation."
And it would not be his last. Even at the age of 35 and on the steep downslope of his career, Lewis remains a master of the largest moments. He skimmed toward the pit, hands chopping and knees rising, took off far behind the scratch line and delivered the longest jump of qualifying, 27'2-1/2". He rose from the sand and stood, ramrod straight, arms raised. It is said that Johnson is on the verge of becoming what Lewis has long been: the king. They share the crown for at least one more day, each with one hand on it, tugging. Tonight they will share the stage as well.
Having narrowly avoided ignominious failure in the long jump with such last-minute panache, Lewis climbed into the minds of his opponents, chiefly U.S. teammate and world-record holder Mike Powell and Ivan Pedroso of Cuba. "I know I can jump 28 feet," Lewis said, eyes gleaming in the same way that they have throughout this season. And the rest of the field? "I know they know not to ignore me."
There seems little suspense to Johnson's pursuit of his first gold medal. He ran 44.59 in winning his semifinal, a run so relaxed it seemed insolent. His opponents clawed at the air in the way that most quarter-milers do, while Johnson casually looked left and right as if he were on a tour bus. It seemed only world-record holder Butch Reynolds could challenge Johnson, but Reynolds, who had waited eight years to return to the Olympics and endured the most notorious doping litigation in track history, collapsed with a hamstring injury in the first semifinal.
Lewis dug down deep and landed the longest jump of the night.
photograph by
So Johnson is left to run against the likes of British veteran Roger Black and 22-year-old U.S. surprise Alvin Harrison. "I expect them to run the race of their lives," Johnson said coolly. Need it be said that they must? Reynolds's eight-year-old record of 43.29, so elusive, is clearly in danger. "I certainly hope that when I look at the clock, it's a world record," said Johnson.
Charles Austin nearly had a world record in the high jump. He missed three times at 8'3/4", a quarter inch above the standard, but he will accept as consolation a gold medal and an Olympic record of 7'10". The medal was won in the bravest of ways: Austin missed twice at 7'9-1/4", dropping into second, behind Poland's Artur Partyka, who had cleared the height. Because of the two misses, Austin could gain nothing by making 7'9-1/4" (he would still trail Partyka on misses), so he passed to 7'10", where he would have only one attempt. From his approach almost straight in front of the bar, the 6'1/2" Austin cleared the height, igniting a thunderous roar. "I've never seen or felt anything like it," he said. "And I probably never will again." The noise he heard was similar to the one that enveloped U.S. hammer thrower Lance Deal, who vaulted from eighth place to a silver medal on his last throw.
In a competition that is unfolding spectacularly, the day began with Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia running away to a two-minute victory in the women's marathon and ended with one favorite, Ghada Shouaa of Syria, winning the heptathlon and another, Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland, dropping out of the 5,000 while trailing eventual winner Wang Junxia of China by more than half a lap.
In the end, Shouaa talked of dreaming "golden dreams," and O'Sullivan cried openly on the shoulder of U.S. runner Lynn Jennings. "It's the Olympics," said Jennings. "Odd things happen. Like a full moon." In the sky above Olympic Stadium was precisely that.
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