Carl Lewis Runs 3rd in 100 Meters : Moses Maintains His Amazing Streak; Johnson Starts One

On a night when Edwin Moses won his 111th straight 400-meter intermediate hurdles race, his 96th straight final, Canada’s Ben Johnson established a streak that is almost as remarkable. For the second straight time, he beat Carl Lewis in the 100 meters.

In overwhelming an exceptional field at Lenin Central Stadium on the final day of track and field competition Wednesday at the Goodwill Games, Johnson ran arguably the most impressive 100 meters ever.

His time was 9.95 seconds, the best ever at a low altitude. The world record is held by Calvin Smith at 9.93, but there is an “a,” the scarlet letter, in front of Smith’s time in the record books because he ran that at altitude in Colorado Springs. Another American, Jim Hines, ran a 9.95 in the 1968 Olympics, but that also was at altitude in Mexico City.

(Moscow is at 550 feet above sea level, Colorado Springs at 6,000 feet and Mexico City at 7,500 feet. The thinner air at higher elevations offers less resistence to athletic performers.)

Even though he ran his best time ever on the fast track at Lenin Central Stadium, Nigeria’s Chidi Imoh placed second in 10.04, just ahead of Lewis, who finished third in 10.06. American Lee McRae was fourth in 10.12.

It was Johnson’s third victory over Lewis in five races since last year, when the Canadian complained because he was not ranked No. 1 in the world by Track & Field News in the 100 meters. Lewis was ranked first in 1985 for the fifth straight year.

Johnson accused the magazine of showing its colors: Red, white and blue.

“Last year, after I won the World Cup, I should have been No. 1,” said Johnson, who was born in Jamaica but has lived in Toronto for 10 years. He is 24.

“They gave it to Carl, but Track & Field News is an American magazine. That is all you need to know. I was pretty angry about it, but it made me want to run better in 1986 to prove that I am No. 1.”

There is no question that Moses is the world’s best intermediate hurdler, although he was not ranked last year because of a knee injury. The only question is how long he can continue his streak, which began nine years ago.

Considering that this was only his second race since August 1984, Moses ran an outstanding time of 47.94 Wednesday night in winning easily over the Soviet Union’s Alexander Vasiliev, second in 48.24, and American David Patrick, third in 48.59.

Moses received his gold medal during the awards ceremony from the games’ creator, Ted Turner. When the Atlanta broadcasting magnate arrived at the stadium, he was dressed casually in a yellow-and-white rugby shirt, khaki pants and deck shoes with no socks. After discovering he was to make a presentation, Turner borrowed a light blue sport coat and a red tie, an interesting match for his rugby shirt, but no socks. He looked like Oscar Madison.

Nonetheless, a crowd of about 55,000, the largest to see a competition at the games, gave Turner a rousing ovation, almost as enthusiastic as the one Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev had received after his speech at the opening ceremonies. Talk about an Odd Couple.

No doubt the crowd was inspired by the Soviet success in track and field, which was not entirely expected. They had such poor results during the 1983 world championships at Helsinki, Finland, that the coaching staff was purged. While there was considerable improvement in the European Cup last summer at Moscow, this meet has re-established them as a world power.

Most impressive was the victory of the Soviet men over the Americans Tuesday night in the 1,600-meter relay.

Willie Gault, a former hurdler and sprinter who is doing commentary here for Turner Broadcasting, compared the defeat of the U.S. team to the loss three years ago of the America’s Cup in sailing.

That proved to be the difference for the Soviet men’s team, which finished with 27 medals--8 gold, 11 silver, 8 bronze--to the American men’s 26--10 gold, 8 silver, 8 bronze. Without Valerie Brisco-Hooks, who chose not to appear here, and Mary Decker Slaney, who recently had her first child, the American women won only 7 medals--5 gold, 2 bronze--to the Soviet women’s 29--8 gold, 12 silver, 9 bronze.

But the United States never expected to match the Soviet depth and did not leave disappointed. Combining the men’s and women’s winners, the Americans won 15 gold medals, one less than the Soviets.

Who would have thought Carl Lewis would not win one of them on his own (he anchored the winning 400-meter relay team)?

When Lewis was introduced to the crowd before the 100 meters, the public address announcer said: “I cannot give you his titles, they are too numerous.”

By contrast, Johnson had only his bronze medal from the 1984 Olympics and the win in the 1985 World Cup championship in Australia.

But Johnson easily was the class of this field. Even though he got a bad start after his blocks slipped, not an uncommon occurrence in the sprints here, he gained the lead early and was never threatened. He said he could have run a world-record time, either 9.00 or 9.10, if not for the mishap at the start.

“I beat Carl in San Jose, you know, about a month ago, and he was complaining that he didn’t have a better start and that his blocks slipped,” Johnson said. “This time I beat him pretty good, and I want to sit back and hear what he has to say this time.”

Lewis said Monday that he has been bothered by bursitis in his knee and shoulder, a condition that prevented him from entering the long jump competition here. But he predicted that the injuries would not prevent him from running his best in the 100 meters, saying he felt he was capable of setting a world record.

When it came time to run, however, he said he had “no zip.”

Lewis did not seem particularly concerned, even though he has lost three times in six races at 100 meters this year.

“As far as I’m concerned, Ben is running very, very well right now,” Lewis said. “His main objective is to get the No. 1 ranking. My main objective is to compete through the year and have an enjoyable time. I’ll have more to look forward to in 1987 and 1988.”

One esteemed observer, Valery Borzov, Soviet sprint champion in the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, agreed that Lewis has nothing to worry about, yet.

Asked if he thinks that Johnson is better than Lewis, Borzov said: “Tonight, he was faster than Lewis. Maybe this year, he is better. But the way these things are, Lewis may be faster next year.”

Asked if Johnson should be favored over Lewis in the 1988 Olympics at Seoul, Borzov said: “It’s too early to tell. Only journalists think of these things.”

A journalist from the London Times rankled Moses by asking him to comment on charges from other intermediate hurdlers that he is avoiding them, running only when he is virtually sure of winning in order to protect his streak.

“I’ve been running and winning for eight or nine years,” Moses said testily. “That covers three World Cups, two Olympic Games and one world championship. If anybody says they haven’t had a chance to run against me, they’re mistaken.”

After being asked another question, Moses asked if he could elaborate on his previous answer.

“If other athletes don’t want to run against me when I’m in top condition, then they shouldn’t run,” he said. “If they want to run against the best, they know where to find me.”

Moses, who committed to this meet several months ago, said other top hurdlers could have run here had they chosen to.

“If they feel I’m protecting my streak, I don’t have to worry about that,” he said. “ My job is to run and win. My job is to be No. 1.”

No one can say Moses can’t hold a job.