Commonwealth Games : Cram, Ovett Each Enjoy Golden Day

Steve Cram ran away from a field weakened by the absence of his main rival, Sebastian Coe, and surged to the 800-meter title Thursday in the Commonwealth Games.

Cram, the world record-holder at one mile and 2,000 meters, won his second Commonwealth Games gold medal--the other was in the 1,500 meters in 1982--with the fastest time in the world this year in the event he considers his weakest.

Meanwhile, Steve Ovett, who has been plagued by injury and illness, came back with a strong effort in only his second 5,000-meter race this year.

Ovett won his first Commonwealth gold medal as he led England to a 1-2-3 sweep.

The performances of Cram and Ovett helped England overtake Australia in the medal table. England has 93 to Australia’s 91 and Canada’s 84.

But Australia won the most gold medals Thursday and took the lead in that category with 36, to 33 for Canada and 31 for England.

Coe, who picked up a virus late last week, was forced to withdraw from both of his showdowns with Cram, in the 800 meters and the 1,500 meters.

Coe’s next chance will be in the European Championships at Stuttgart, West Germany, in late August.

“I’m sorry that Seb wasn’t there,” Cram said after sweeping down the backstraight to win the 800 meters in 1:43.22. “But it would have been a hollow victory if I beat him when he was not 100% fit.”

Cram was in seventh and last place with 300 meters to go, then put on a tremendous burst of speed to take the lead.

“Once I decided to pick up the pace, I just went off,” he said. Scotland’s Tom McKean gained the silver medal and Peter Elliott the bronze for England.

Ovett ran a relatively slow time of 13:24.11 to win the 5,000 meters but was fresh at the end of a race in which New Zealand’s John Walker, the 1976 Olympic 1,500-meter champion, finished a surprising fifth.

“If I had not run well today, a lot of people would have written me off,” Ovett said.

Atlee Mahorn of Canada won the 200-meter dash, beating countryman Ben Johnson, the fastest man in the world this year at 100 meters. Johnson, who rarely runs the longer distance, finished third.