Time for Fast Talkers to Put Up or Shut Up : Lewis and Johnson Have Their Say; Today, They Run in World Championships

In the 1920s, the Villa Miani, an 18th-Century mansion overlooking Rome, was at the center of controversy after it became the home of the Methodist Episcopal Church. As the Vatican City was located in the valley, Roman Catholics were offended because the Episcopalians could look down upon it.

Considering the slights, real and imagined, that have flustered Canadian Ben Johnson, it seemed somehow fitting he should hold a press conference downtown in the Hotel Ergife, described by one of its patrons as “definitely not plush,” while Lewis was meeting the press at Villa Miani, which, according to its brochure, boasts “pleasantly aristocratic ambiance.” The accent is on aristocratic.

Johnson, who stammers, did the best he could in front of a small group of reporters. His coach, Charlie Francis, did most of the talking. Actually, a man translating the English into Italian did most of the talking.

There were four times as many reporters at the Villa Miani press conference, where there were translators for those who spoke English, Italian and Japanese. The difference in the number of reporters could not be attributed entirely to the spaghetti and Italian wines that were served.

Lewis is hot enough here that the paparazzi have been able to ignore everyone else, including Prince Albert of Monaco. Photographers elbowed each other for position. Two film crews, one from England and one from Italy, came to blows. Lewis appeared comfortable with the scene, even amused by it. Imperious was the word used by an English newspaper.

The attention King Carl, as he is known in the Italian press, has received has aggravated to no end the Canadians, who claim it should have been Johnson’s picture, not Lewis’, on the front pages of Rome’s newspapers virtually every day last week.

It would be difficult to convince them otherwise. Since they first met in the 100 meters in 1980, Lewis has beaten Johnson in 8 of 13 races outdoors. But Johnson has won 5 of the last 6, including 4 straight.

In Lewis’ defense, he was injured for much of 1985 and 1986, when Johnson beat him four times. But when Johnson won last May at Seville, Spain, in a photo finish, 10.06 to 10.07 seconds, it was the Canadian who claimed he was not at his best.

“Lewis did not see the Ben you see today,” Francis said.

Since the race in Seville, no one has ever seen a more consistently brilliant sprinter than the Jamaican-born Johnson. In his last five races, his average time has been 9.975 seconds. That includes a 9.95 in Cologne, West Germany, and a 9.97 in Zurich that he ran into a 1.2 meters per second headwind. Calvin Smith of the United States holds the world record at 9.93, but that was at 6,008 feet above sea level in Colorado Springs. No one has run faster at sea level than Johnson’s 9.95. Lewis’ best was 9.97 in 1983.

Still, Johnson seems to believe he has something to prove, if not to the world, then to Lewis. This would be a good day to start because, barring misfortune in the afternoon semifinals, they will meet tonight at the Olympic Stadium in the 100-meter final at the track and field world championships.

The two qualifying heats Saturday were easy for both but easier for Lewis, who broke his meet record by running 10.05 in the first heat while appearing to run effortlessly. In the first world championships in 1983, he ran 10.07 to win.

Even before the heats, Dr. D.H. Potts, a track and field historian from Los Angeles, said the final between Johnson, 25, and Lewis, 26, would be the best match between sprinters in a major international competition since Eddie Tolan beat Ralph Metcalfe in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games.

The world is ready. The headline Thursday in the Paris sports newspaper, L’Equipe, read: “Lewis, ‘Yes, I Am Going to Battle Johnson.’ ” In Milan’s Gazetto Dello Sport Friday, the headline read: “Twenty-Four Hours From the Start, Lewis and Johnson Already Had 100 Meters Worth of Talk.” The headline in the London Times read: “Johnson Chasing Credibility.”

It is precisely the kind of sentiment expressed in the London Times that infuriates Francis, although he is more sensitive to it when it appears in the U.S. press. He was fuming at Johnson’s press conference Wednesday because of an article they considered demeaning in the airline magazine they read en route to Rome. Canadian and U.S. reporters who later read the article found nothing that could have been construed as offensive to Johnson.

But Francis and Johnson have been wary of the U.S. press since 1985, when Lewis was ranked No. 1 and Johnson No. 2 in the 100 meters by the Palo Alto-based Track & Field News. Lewis beat Johnson in two of three races that year, but the Canadian believed he should have been ranked first because he had a faster time.

For what it is worth, Track & Field News ranked Johnson No. 1 last year and, in its world championship preview issue, predicted he would win here.

That has not appeased Francis and Johnson, although the sprinter no longer relieves his frustrations by taking shots at Lewis, at least not publicly.

“I would like to stress there is no animosity between Carl Lewis and me,” Johnson said. “It has been suggested that I deliberately snubbed his handshake when I beat him in Zurich last year. But that is not the case. I will shake his hand any time.”

Johnson, however, has not tempered his boasts. “I fear no one,” he said. “I am sure I am going to win, but I am not sure who is going to come in second.”

If Johnson is right, Francis said he believes he will become recognized as the man who changed the way sprinters are coached. Most sprinters, Lewis included, believe the 100 cannot be run flat out, but Francis does.

“Where most people have to conserve energy at some point, Ben goes maximally from the start,” Francis said. “He generates 55 horsepower out of the blocks. When he was younger, he’d get as far as 40 meters, then he’d have a heart attack. In the Olympics, he got to 60 and still finished third.

“Now he’s ready to go all the way. The idea is to extend the energy package available, by working to higher and higher rates, and learning to tolerate them. If we pull this off, we’ll send everybody back to the drawing board.”

Lewis does not buy any of it, claiming that today’s race is a better test than any since the 1984 Olympics, in which he won four gold medals. He won three gold medals at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki.

“I always intended to have a couple of low-key years after the last World Championships and the Olympics,” he said. “The strain of that completely drained me.”

Anyone who doubted Lewis’ confidence needed only to look at the address where he had his press conference. It was on Via Trionfale-- Triumphal Way.

LEWIS vs. JOHNSON IN THE 100 In 13 outdoor races since their first meeting in 1980, Carl Lewis has beaten Ben Johnson 8 times. But Johnson has won 5 of the last 6, including 4 straight.

Date Site Aug. 29, 1980 Sudbury, Canada Aug. 20, 1982 West Berlin Aug. 22, 1982 Cologne, West Germany Aug. 4, 1984 Los Angeles Aug. 20, 1984 Budapest, Hungary Aug. 22, 1984 Zurich, Switzerland May 5, 1985 Modesto Aug. 21, 1985 Zurich Aug. 25, 1985 Cologne May 31, 1986 San Jose July 9, 1986 Moscow Aug. 13, 1986 Zurich May 28, 1987 Seville, Spain

Date Time (Where finished) Aug. 29, 1980 Lewis 10.43 (1st); Johnson 10.88 (6th) Aug. 20, 1982 Lewis 10.08 (1st); Johnson 10.61 (8th) Aug. 22, 1982 Lewis 10.47 (1st); Johnson 10.55 (4th) Aug. 4, 1984 Lewis 9.99 (1st); Johnson 10.22 (3rd) Aug. 20, 1984 Lewis 10.05 (1st); Johnson 10.33 (4th) Aug. 22, 1984 Lewis 9.99 (1st); Johnson 10.12 (3rd) May 5, 1985 Lewis 9.98 (1st); Johnson 10.16 (4th) Aug. 21, 1985 Johnson 10.18 (1st); Lewis 10.31 (4th) Aug. 25, 1985 Lewis 10.27 (2nd); Johnson 10.29 (3rd) May 31, 1986 Johnson 10.01 (1st); Lewis 10.18 (2nd) July 9, 1986 Johnson 9.95 (1st); Lewis 10.06 (3rd) Aug. 13, 1986 Johnson 10.03 (1st); Lewis 10.25 (3rd) May 28, 1987 Johnson 10.06 (1st); Lewis 10.07 (2nd)

Note: The only race they both were involved in that neither won was in Cologne in 1985, when Poland’s Marian Woronin finished first.