It Hasn’t Been So Easy for Joan Benoit After Winning in Olympics

Joan Benoit, ever the symbol of taciturn coolness, bristled at the impertinence of the question. The shy New Englander was already out of her element at an uninhibited San Francisco press conference before the Bay to Breakers last month. Now, as reporters elbowed toward the athletes seated at the back of the packed restaurant, Benoit winced.

A week before, at a similar gathering in New York, Benoit had said that her training since the Olympics had been generally frustrating. “Maybe I need to take a break,” she said. Thus, the roll of her eyes at the first question in San Francisco: “Is it possible,” Benoit was asked, “that you are losing your competitive spirit?”

It would not be the first time an athlete had regretted a public statement. Patiently, Benoit parried. “I don’t think I’m losing my interest. You forget that the winters in Maine are very long.” Benoit may have lost ground in training but she has retained all of her wry sense of humor. From the look of things, Benoit will need that sunny outlook to see her through what has been a cloudy post-Olympic period.

Even though Benoit had little trouble in winning the Olympic marathon last year, she admitted she still felt the effects of arthroscopic surgery and the Olympic trials marathon only 17 days later. She trained as usual after the Games, allowing herself only three days off in September--for her honeymoon. Benoit has competed in few races since the Games. She broke her world-best for a half marathon but also pulled out of one road race complaining of “exhaustion and a cold” and finished a disappointing sixth in the Jacksonville 15-kilometer River Run. In her latest competition, Benoit finished 11th in the L’eggs 10-kilometer run June 1.

At a New York press conference, Benoit said she was getting confusing signals from her training sessions--signals she hasn’t experienced in her 10-year career.

“My training has not been going well,” she said. “There have been a lot of ups and downs. There’s no real reason behind them. I can’t explain them. The down days . . . they’re very frustrating. I’ve been fighting to try and keep my mileage where I want it. But my body says no.

“Perhaps it’s a physical problem, I don’t know. It may be frustrating for the next couple of months, or even a year, but then maybe things will be all right.”

Since then, Benoit has been more consistent in her training.

“I had a slump for a while there, but my training the last three or four weeks has been going well, better than ever,” Benoit said. She won the 7.5-mile Bay to Breakers race in 39 minutes 54.8 seconds. “I think the last year took a lot out of me, more than I thought at first. The trials race was really the best I’ve ever had. But the emotion of that race, and the Olympics, was tremendous. Plus, I got married. I’m traveling more and I’m not used to that. I have learned how to say no to people.

“I’m a little concerned, I will tell you, that my speed isn’t up to par with my strength. But it’s coming along.”

In the meantime, Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen broke Benoit’s world-best mark at the London Marathon. Benoit said she wasn’t surprised when she heard the news. “I was at home that afternoon when I heard,” she said. “It doesn’t really bother me now, but that afternoon . . . boy. I’m really happy for Ingrid. She’s been in the shadow of her countrywoman (Grete Waitz) for some time. We have every reason to be very proud of her. Ingrid is a great representative of the sport.”

Benoit has yet to run a marathon since the Games although she has stated that she has one scheduled this year, possibly in the fall. She is entered in the 10,000 at the national championships today and Saturday at Indianapolis.

“I’ll wait and see how I feel, “ Benoit said. “I’m going to schedule myself along those lines from now on.”

Running Notes Mary Decker Slaney and Zola Budd may race against each other next month for the first time since their famous collision in the Olympic 3,000-meter final last summer. They could meet in the Peugot Talbot Games, the eighth meet in this season’s inaugural track and field Grand Prix season, which is being held July 19-20 in London. Budd is scheduled to run the 3,000. Slaney has said she will run only if she is healthy. She is scheduled to bypass the national championships to run in Vancouver, B.C., where she will attempt to break the world record in the mile. . . . After becoming the first man to win both the Olympic marathon and the world cross-country championship, Carlos Lopes announced he would concentrate on running in prize money races and going for records. His prediction that he would set world records in three events (the marathon, the one-hour and the 10,000 meters) came true two weeks later with his world record in the Rotterdam marathon.