Moses Still on Top, but the Mountain’s Getting Crowded

On the day after his 32nd birthday, Edwin Moses ran his fastest time ever in a major international championship to continue his reign in the 400-meter intermediate hurdles. But while age may not be catching up to him, the competition is.

It took a photo finish to determine Moses was the winner Tuesday at the Olympic Stadium here by two-hundredths of a second over another American, Danny Harris, and West German Harald Schmid.

Coming on the fourth day of track and field’s World Championships, Moses gave the United States its first gold medal. Three hours later, the United States had another when Jackie Joyner-Kersee overwhelmed the field in the heptathlon.

Moses, the 1976 and 1984 Olympic gold medalist and the 1983 world champion, was timed in 47.46 seconds, while Harris and Schmid both finished in 47.48. After viewing the electronic photo, officials ruled Harris finished ahead of Schmid by the slimmest of margins.

Veteran track and field observers said it was the closest finish in an international championship since Otis Davis of the United States beat another West German, Carl Kaufmann, in the open 400 meters during the 1960 Summer Olympics in this stadium. Both were hand-timed in 44.9, but an electronic timer gave Davis the victory by .02 seconds.

Adding to the intrigue of Tuesday’s finish was that to the naked eye, three athletes appeared to hit the tape at the same instant.

While the scoreboard flashed Moses’ name as the winner and he began a labored victory lap, Harris and Schmid insisted they had won. Harris was even more adamant after viewing a television replay. But when officials showed them the official photo, both said they were satisfied with the official order of finish.

For Moses, whose world record is 47.02, it was the 12th fastest time of his career but the fastest he has run in a competition after having to survive two days of qualifying. The first heat here was Sunday, the semifinals Monday.

His previous best was a 47.50 in the finals at the first World Championships four years ago in Helsinki, Finland, a race best remembered because he ran the last 200 meters with one of his shoelaces untied.

That was as much drama as a Moses race ever produced until this year. In June, Harris, the heir apparent at age 21, ran a personal record of 47.56 and ended Moses’ 107-race winning streak. The last person who had beaten him was Schmid on Aug. 26, 1977.

In finishing second Tuesday, Harris ran even faster to tie Schmid as the second-fastest performer of all time. Schmid, 29, equaled his European record to finish third. It was the first time three men in the same race have broken 48 seconds. Seven of the eight runners broke 49 seconds, also a first.

“It was the fastest race in the event ever and the toughest race of my career,” Moses said. “It gets tougher and tougher to win every year. If I can say so myself, I’ve created a monster.

“I’m happy to come out the winner, being the old man that I am.”

Moses’ age was most evident on his victory lap, which took 12 minutes, including the time he needed to go into the crowd, find his mother, Gladys, and wife, Myrella, and give each a kiss. He started the lap trotting and finished in a slow walk.

That was better than some of the competitors in the walk were able to do later in the afternoon, as the heat and humidity continued to stifle the athletes.

In a scene reminiscent of the 1984 Summer Olympics, when Switzerland’s Gabriela Andersen-Schiess staggered through the final lap of the women’s marathon, three women in the 10-kilometer walk Tuesday had to be carried off the track on stretchers before reaching the finish line. One of the women, Lorraine Jachno of Australia, was taken to a hospital because of heat exhaustion but was released late Tuesday night.

That race also provided one of the most confusing moments of the championships.

Watching the race on the scoreboard as the leaders reached the tunnel to enter the stadium for the final lap, the crowd of about 48,000 was told by the public address announcer that China’s Ping Guan was in first place.

But when the walkers emerged from the tunnel, she was not among them. There was no explanation given to the crowd, but officials later said Guan was disqualified outside the stadium when she was given her third red card for running. Irina Strakhova of the Soviet Union won in 44:12.

Joyner-Kersee said the humidity was so thick “you could almost reach out and grab it.”

Joyner-Kersee’s gold and Jane Frederick’s bronze in the heptathlon gave the United States four medals for the day, one more than it won in the first three days combined. The United States now has seven medals, eight fewer than it had after the first four days of the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki.

For the second time ever in a major competition, and the first time since the 1960 Rome Olympics, no U.S. runners qualified for the men’s 800-meter final Tuesday.

A Kenyan who trains in Long Beach, Billy Konchellah, won in a personal record of 1:43.06.

When Konchellah came to the United States in 1979, he attended Mission Viejo High School for a year and lived with Moses.

Moses interrupted his formal interview with the press after his victory Tuesday so he could watch Konchellah’s race.

While Harris and Schmid obviously felt differently, Moses told reporters there was little question in his mind he had won when the race ended.

“I sensed I was ahead, but you never can tell,” he said. “I could sense everyone behind me. I wasn’t looking to the sides, but I just sensed I was over the line first.”

Moses also was out of the blocks first and appeared for the first 250 meters as if he would win easily. After 7 of the 10 hurdles, his lead appeared to be at least two strides.

But Harris and Schmid narrowed the gap over the ninth hurdle as Moses, perhaps because of fatigue, stopped attacking the hurdles. Harris was closest to Moses going into the 10th hurdle but did not clear it smoothly and fell into third place.

“If I could take one thing back, that would be it,” Harris said. “I guess you could say that it cost me the race.”

Harris ran the distance from the last hurdle to the finish line faster than the others as both he and Schmid closed in on Moses. But they were unable to out-lean him at the tape.

“Edwin made one mistake,” Schmid joked. “He didn’t slow down enough.”

Moses said he does not intend to slow down at least through the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, and maybe not even then.

“I always had to run hard to win,” he said. “Now I have to really concentrate because we have two other gentlemen who are very capable of winning as well. It’s a tough situation. It was possible for any of us to win that race.

“In the future, it will be even tougher for me because I’m getting older, and everyone else is getting better.

“But I’m going to stick with it definitely through Seoul. Who knows? I may go to the World Cup in 1989 and then on to the Summer Olympics in Barcelona in 1992.

“I’ve got no other job to go to.”

Track Notes

The fashion sensation of the championships so far has been Florence Griffith of the United States, who won her heat Tuesday in the first round of the women’s 200 meters while wearing a bodysuit, including a headgear that was made out of the same lightweight materials as the rest of her uniform. She looked more like a speedskater than a track sprinter. “It’s supposedly aerodynamic,” she said. “It felt real good. The only difficult part was getting into the helmet. It took 10 minutes. I sort of had to dance into it.” The other U.S. women, Pam Marshall and Gwen Torrence, also qualified for Thursday’s semifinals but didn’t look as stunning. . . . Two Americans also qualified for the finals Thursday of the women’s 400-meter intermediate hurdles, both finishing fourth in their semifinals. Schwonda Williams ran a personal best of 54.82 to advance, while Judi Brown-King ran 55.55.. . . All three U.S. men in the 200, defending champion Calvin Smith, Floyd Heard and Wallace Spearmon, advanced into Thursday’s semifinals. . . . Today is an off-day.