The Empire Strikes Out

The situation worsened for Britain two days later when Ovett was bloodied and beaten in a 1,000 at a meet in Edinburgh. Less than a lap into the race he was forced to leap over a fallen runner, spiked himself in the process and had to stop briefly. At the finish, Ovett, coming off a series of knee and hamstring injuries, was fifth in a field of 10. OLYMPIC CHAMPIONS JINXED, screamed a headline.

There was suddenly talk that perhaps Ovett's day had passed. A large bald spot hints at his advancing age—he'll soon be 28—and some observers suggested that he'd lost his competitive hunger. His new clothing company, Ovett Sportswear, Ltd., brings in good money, as do his promotional work for U-Bix Copiers and his wife Rachel's modeling. It's now in his best interest to be more personable, less feisty. However, his attitude toward old rival Coe hasn't become much more charitable. After the fiasco in Edinburgh, Ovett sneered to reporters, "At least I didn't end up in the sand pit," and when it was reported that Coe had dumped girl friend Irene Epple, the West German skier, in favor of British tennis player Linda Geeves, Ovett raised an eyebrow and sardonically asked, "Does his father know?" Some things, it seems, never change, even in the worst of times.

Ovett gradually came back to form, qualifying for the World Championships 1,500 with an impressive 3:33.81 clocking in Oslo on June 28 and running a 1:46.29 800 in an AAA qualifying heat last Saturday, well within the 1:46.50 British qualifying standard for the Championships. But in the 800 final on Sunday, he fell apart again. About 200 meters into the race, Ovett was spiked in his right foot, and a three-inch gash opened up. He gamely continued, running smoothly, until the 600-meter mark, when he was hit with a bad muscle spasm in his right buttock. The instant Ovett dropped out of the race, his chances of being selected to compete in the 800 at Helsinski dropped precipitously.

Coe, after a brilliant 1:43.80 800—history's sixth-fastest time—in that June 28 Oslo meet, stumbled again two weeks ago, letting Yugoslavia's Dragan Zdravkovic blow past him in the final yards to win a 1,500 in London. One reason for his defeat, explained Coe afterward, was that a dog had bitten him on the left ankle only a few days before the race and the ankle had swollen. In any case, much of the British press and public, now fed up with not only their athletes' failures but also with open feuding among Cram, Ovett and Coe over who was getting favored treatment from Britain's World Championships selection board, suggested that Coe scrap his plans to run both the 800 and 1,500 in Helsinki. Under pressure, Coe gave in. "If I did anything other than win [the World Championships 1,500], it would leave me open to accusations that another athlete should have been sent," he said. But Coe also knew that if he beat Williamson in Saturday night's mile, he would win a moral victory. And sure enough, Williamson made himself the man to beat.

At the 1,100-meter mark the 23-year-old Williamson barreled between Scott and Masback and took off. Scott and Coe were on his tail, waiting to pounce. Williamson passed through 1,200 meters in 2:58.77, almost seven seconds behind Coe's world-record split. Off such a slow pace, this was anybody's race.

Scott ran Williamson down on the backstretch, taking the lead with 250 meters to go. When Coe, too, went by Williamson and crept up on Scott's shoulder, the crowd rose, roaring. Coe was in perfect position to haul in Scott, toss him aside and put British track and field right back on its feet again. This was it. THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.

But the empire struck out. "I knew Seb wasn't going to catch me when the crowd went silent," said Scott later. Scott hit the finish line at 3:51.56, fully 12 yards ahead of Coe (3:52.93), 20 ahead of Williamson (3:53.96) and a light-year ahead of the fourth-place Coghlan (3:57.61). He had proven that, without question, he's now the world's outstanding miler. "At last, maybe people will realize just how good Steve is," said Scott's coach, Len Miller. "Do you know he's never even been named amateur athlete of the year in his home state of Arizona? Here's a guy who has his running in perspective, his goals in perspective, his life in perspective.... Maybe now people will begin to put him in perspective."

"I know Seb isn't at his best, so that tarnishes this a little," said Scott, with typical humility. But Coe, with typical frankness, disagreed. "Don't denigrate yourself," he told Scott. "The way you're running, I don't think anybody could have given you much more of a fight tonight." As for himself, Coe said, "I improved from my last two 1,500s, and that's a good sign. I like to feel that the engine is on the way up." But after last week's AAA it was hard to believe that any of Britain's runners will be revved up enough to win in Helsinki.