World Track and Field Championships Notes : With Victory in 800 Meters, Konchellah Helps Put Africa Back on Map

When Kenya’s Billy Konchellah jogged around the track waving the flag of his country Tuesday, it marked a comeback for him and the re-emergence of Africa on the world track scene.

Konchellah won the 800 meters in 1 minute 43.06 seconds, best time in the world this year, and was seemingly in control of the race all the way.

He expected Britain’s Peter Elliott to set a fast pace. When he didn’t, Konchellah said later, “My strategy was destroyed.”

But Brazil’s Jose-Luis Barbosa accommodated Konchellah, taking over the role of the rabbit for Elliott. That was to Konchellah’s liking and he stayed close to the leader through a 50.59-second first lap, then took charge of the race coming off the final turn.

A year ago, Konchellah was ill with severe bronchitis and looking for work. He didn’t have a shoe contract, or the prospect of one, and got some part-time work in the office of Los Angeles track promoter Al Franken.

Konchellah lives in Long Beach and trains under Ron Allice, track coach at Long Beach City College.

“I regard what Billy has done the comeback of the year,” Allice said. “Last year, he was living a hand-to-mouth existence.”

Konchellah, a sort of protege of Edwin Moses, came to the United States in 1979, when he was 18. He lived in Moses’ condominium in Mission Viejo for a while.

He was always an outstanding prospect, finishing fourth in the 800 in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984, but he has reached a new plateau.

Asked whether he has the world 800 record in mind, Konchellah said: “I not only think about it, I’m going to break it.”

That would be a formidable accomplishment since it is one of the more enduring records in the book--1:41.73 by Britain’s Sebastian Coe in 1981.

African runners, who were previously prominent in the Olympic Games, didn’t take away a gold medal in the inaugural World Championship meet in 1983 in Helsinki, Finland.

Now Africa has two gold medalists, Konchellah and Kenyan Paul Kipkoech in the 10,000, and the prospect of two more in Innocent Egbunike, who will run the 400 for Nigeria, and Julius Korir, another Kenyan, entered in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Konchellah is a member of the Masai tribe. When he was younger, he spent much of his time caring for cattle on his father’s 1,070-acre ranch near Narok, a city 150 miles west of Nairobi.

“Cattle is their main source of income,” said Konchellah, referring to the Masai. “There are a lot of guys faster than me, but they think track is a waste of time.”

Konchellah’s emergence may change their minds.

NBC apparently resorted to subterfuge in getting sprinters Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson on “The Today Show” Monday.

Neither was told beforehand of the presence of the other on the show. They were interviewed separately until the end, when they were on together, briefly.

Asked if they like one another, they sidestepped the question.

Johnson was interviewed later by NBC’s Dick Enberg and reportedly said that he doesn’t like Lewis. Johnson decisively beat Lewis here Sunday in a landmark 100-meter race. Johnson, a Jamaican-born Canadian, set a world record of 9.83 seconds, while Lewis equaled the former record with a time of 9.93 in second place.

Organizers of a post-championship meet next Tuesday in Rieti, Italy, 50 miles north of Rome, are reportedly trying to persuade Lewis to join Johnson in a rematch.

Lewis, one of the most celebrated track athletes in the world, lost some prestige by losing to Johnson. He could take the spotlight away from Johnson by breaking Bob Beamon’s longstanding long jump record of 29 feet 2 1/2 inches. Long jump trials begin Friday with the final on Saturday.

Carl Witherspoon, who finished fifth in a qualifying heat in the 100 meters, is apparently angry that he has been removed from the 400-meter relay team.

Witherspoon, who suffered a nerve injury in his leg in the Pan-American Games last month at Indianapolis, was obviously not physically ready to perform here.

Even so, he issued an ultimatum: “Carl (Lewis) is not going to run on the relay unless I’m going to run.”

Witherspoon, who won the 100 in the USA-Mobil outdoor championships last June in San Jose, trains with Lewis in Houston. They are both members of the Santa Monica Track Club.

When informed of Witherspoon’s stand, Joe Douglas, Lewis’ manager and coach of the SMTC, said:

“There is no truth to that at all. Mark is just a frustrated young man. He made the same statements to me. Mel Rosen (U.S. men’s coach) came to me about it and I told him he was right. You can’t take a chance.

“Mark would deserve (a place on relay team) if we knew he was ready. But there’s no way to know that. I don’t know what Lee McNeill can do, but it’s better than 10.65.”

Douglas was referring to Witherspoon’s time in his heat. McNeill, Lee McRae, Harvey Glance ad Dennis Mitchell will make up the relay team in the first two rounds, starting Friday. Lewis will replace Mitchell on the anchor leg in Sunday’s final.

This has been an off year for Willie Banks, the world record-holder in the triple jump. He failed to qualify for the final in the World Championships and apparently has lost some of his enthusiasm.

Chuck DeBus, who coaches Banks for the Los Angeles Track Club, said: “Willie has been at practice--in body, but not in spirit. I don’t think his heart is in it.”

Banks was depressed when he failed to win a medal in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He came back the next year to set a world record of 58-11 1/2.

“I want to come back in 1988 (the Olympics at Seoul, South Korea) like I did in 1985,” Banks said.

It has been strongly rumored here that first-round heats of the men’s steeplechase Tuesday were canceled to accommodate Italy’s Francesca Panetta.

It will be a 19-man final today, which will undoubtedly result in a logjam over the hurdles and a crowded pool at the water jump.

Panetta benefited from the canceling of the 10,000-meter heats Saturday, staying fresh for the steeplechase with one fewer race to run. The 10,000-meter final, which was originally scheduled Monday, was held Saturday.

Panetta got a silver medal in a botched up race in which an electric lap counter erroneously informed runners that that they had fewer laps to run than the correct total. It caused mass confusion.

Sue Howland, an Australian javelin thrower, was barred from the World Championships after testing positive for “a drug in the steroid group” at a British meet earlier this summer, officials said.

Howland could face a lifetime ban from competition, Dr. Arne Ljungqvist said.

Howland, 27 today, was found to be using drugs during the Girobank Games at Belfast, Northern Ireland, July 20. She finished second in the meet behind Britain’s Fatima Whitbread with a throw of 210 feet 7 inches.

Track and Field Notes Finals will be held today in the men’s 400 meters, 110-meter high hurdles and 200 meters, and in the women’s 400-meter hurdles and 200 meters. Decathlon competition also gets under way with Britain’s Daley Thompson, the defending champion, apparently the class of the field. . . . Butch Reynolds, who has the fastest time in the world this year in the 400 meters at 44.10 seconds, barely qualified for today’s final. He has been ill most of the week, most recently suffering from diarrhea. . . . Ben Johnson’s lowering of the 100-meter record by a full 10th of a second in the era of automatic timing that records times in increments of 100ths is a significant accomplishment. For that race, only Charley Paddock’s lowering the record from 10.6 to 10.4 in 1921 is comparable. . . . On a day off, more than 1,000 athletes met with Pope John Paul II, who told them not to be completely absorbed by the “cult of the human body.” The Pope gave his speech in English, then gave a summary of his remarks in Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian to the athletes and their trainers.