World Indoor Track and Field Championships : Heike Drechsler, Ben Johnson Break Records

East Germany’s Heike Drechsler doesn’t want to be compared to Carl Lewis, he being something of a capitalist. It could be worse. She could be compared to the American women here.

Pointing toward three gold medals this summer in the World outdoor championships at Rome and four gold medals in the 1988 Summer Olympics at Seoul, South Korea, Drechsler, 22, won two within an hour Saturday at the World indoor track and field championships.

She won her speciality, the long jump, at 23-3 1/2, then returned to the Hoosier Dome track to run a world-record 22.27 seconds in the 200 meters, breaking the previous best of 22.39, set by East German Marita Koch in 1983.

It was Drechsler’s second world record within nine days. She broke her own indoor long jump record on Feb. 27 in Madison Square Garden with a jump of 24-0.

“That’s enough for now,” said Drechsler, a primary education student from Jena. “I just want to see my husband when I go home.”

It was a day for records, one set by the Hoosier Dome crowd. Never have more people seen an indoor meet than the announced crowd of 20,023, although that figure appeared to be inflated. The previous record of 18,325 was set at the 1986 Millrose Games in New York.

But just so no one would get the impression that Indiana is swept away with enthusiasm for track and field, the largest ovation of the day came when a Big Ten basketball score was announced.

The second-largest ovation came when Canadian Ben Johnson emerged unhurt after a spectacular flip over the retaining wall 30 meters beyond the finish line.

That’s where his momentum carried him after he broke his own world record in the 60 meters, running 6.41 seconds. His previous best was 6.44, which he ran twice this winter.

The first three finishers in the men’s 5,000-meter walk all broke the previous world record, the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Schennilov winning in 18:27.79 after a controversial finish.

He and Czechoslovakia’s Jozef Pribilinec had their elbows buried in each other’s ribs for about the last 15 meters.

Hoosier Dome fans rarely see that much contact in Colts’ games.

That was one of two gold medals won Saturday by the Soviet men, the other going to Igor Paklin in the high jump after he beat compatriot Gennadiy Avdeyenko in a jump-off.

The other four gold medalists in men’s competition were the United States’ Antonio McKay in the 400 meters, East Germany’s Ulf Timmerman in the shot put, Ireland’s Marcus O’Sullivan in the 1,500 meters and Canada’s Johnson.

The women’s competition was not so balanced.

Of the five gold medals awarded Saturday, East Germany won four, two by Drechsler, one by Cornelia Oschkenat in the hurdles and one by Christine Wachtel in the 800 meters.

The Soviet Union’s Tatiana Samolenko won the other in the 3,000, bringing the USSR’s total for the meet to three.

Those are the only two countries that have won gold medals in women’s events. Of the 21 medals awarded in women’s events, 16 have been won by Eastern Bloc athletes.

The last 10 events will be decided today.

Without Mary Slaney, Evelyn Ashford, Valerie Brisco and Diane Dixon, who, for one reason or another, are not competing here, U.S. women have been shut out.

Their best finish has been a fourth by Alice Jackson in the 200 meters, unless you count a couple of Jamaicans who live in the United States.

Merlene Ottey-Page finished second in the 200 meters, followed closely by Grace Jackson.

Jamaica also can claim Johnson, although he has lived in Toronto for the last 11 of his 24 years.

He was by no means disappointed with the world record but was still talking about the one that got away.

His first start in the 60 meters was timed in .127 of a second, the fastest ever recorded indoors, but the race was recalled when he was charged with a false start.

After viewing the replay, officials determined that it wasn’t Johnson who false-started by West Germany’s Christian Haas.

“My time was so fast, they couldn’t believe it,” Johnson said.

He said he would have run at least 6.36 if he had been allowed to continue.

Johnson, naturally, was asked about Carl Lewis, who figures to be the Canadian’s strongest competition in the 100 meters outdoors. After being ranked No. 1 in the world in the event for five straight years, Lewis was displaced in 1986 by Johnson.

“Most sprinters would worry about Carl Lewis because he was so great in ‘84,” Johnson said. “Most runners would be shivering.

“But I’m just trying to concentrate on my own race. It took me a long time to get where I am now. I’ve only got one life. I want to make the best of it.”

Lewis didn’t earn a berth on the U.S. team for this meet, but he was among the crowd.

“Carl shook my hand, but he didn’t say too much,” Johnson said.

Drechsler also is asked often about Lewis, who won gold medals in the 1984 Olympics in the same events--the 100, 200, long jump and 4x100 relay--that she plans to enter in 1988. She said she will compete in the 100, long jump and 4x100 relay at the World outdoor championships this summer.

“It’s always a compliment to be compared with someone like Carl Lewis,” she said two weeks ago in New York.

“I’m very much like Carl Lewis. But I do it for pleasure and not for commercial reasons. So there’s a difference there.”

If she wins four gold medals, she will be the only woman to do so in the Olympics other than Holland’s Fanny Blankers-Koen in 1948.

Lewis said he admires Drechsler but doesn’t believe the odds are as good that she will win four golds as they were for him.

“It can be done,” he said. “But it’ll be harder for her. She’ll have specialists coming at her in every event, and she’ll have tremendous competition even in her own country.”