Close Inspection Gives Long Jump to Joyner-Kersee

After her third effort Friday in the long jump at track and field’s World Championships, there was a smile on Jackie Joyner-Kersee’s face.

But there was a frown on the electronic face on the scoreboard, indicating that she had fouled on her approach, thus nullifying the second-best long jump of her career, 24 feet 1 3/4 inches.

There also was a frown on the face of Joyner-Kersee’s coach-husband, Bob Kersee, who was sitting in the stands at the Olympic Stadium next to another coach, Fred Thompson of the New York Atoms.

“I was very, very concerned,” Kersee said later. “I told Fred that if they left that frown up there, somebody had better tackle me or they’re going to see Bob Kersee at his worst.”

The numbers were on his side as the crowd of 41,000 whistled and jeered when the frown appeared on the scoreboard. They were appeased moments later when, upon a review of the plasticene at the end of the runway, the long jump judges ruled that Joyner-Kersee had not stepped across the takeoff board and that her jump was legal. Indeed, television replays revealed that her takeoff had been nearly perfect. There were smiles all around.

Well, not quite all around.

Joyner-Kersee’s effort gave her an insurmountable leap on the competition, including defending champion Heike Drechsler of East Germany.

Twice last year, Drechsler, 22, jumped the world record of 24-5 1/2, which Joyner-Kersee, 25, tied last month in the Pan American Games. They may be equals in the long jump, but this competition was supposed to determine which was more equal.

That still remains to be seen, however. Drechsler aggravated an injury to the tendon behind her left knee, quitting the competition after her fourth jump.

She still finished third at 23-4 3/4, just short of the 23-5 that the Soviet Union’s Elena Belevskaya jumped for second place.

Had Joyner-Kersee’s third jump not been allowed, she would have finished third since her next-best jump was 23-4 1/2.

As it was, she won by 8 1/2 inches and was as dominating as she had been earlier this week in the heptathlon, which she won by 564 points. That was greater than the difference between 2nd and 13th places. For the second straight year, she has virtually assured herself the award as Female Athlete of the Year.

Her competition appears to be East German sprinter Silke Gladisch, the only other double gold medalist through the first seven days of the World Championships, which end Sunday. Gladisch won the 100 and the 200 meters, but her chances to win a third gold medal have lessened, now that Drechsler has said she will not run in the 400 relay because of her injury.

Considering Drechsler’s condition, Joyner-Kersee’s victory was not a surprise. That was hardly the case with the other U.S. medalist Friday.

John Powell, 40, a veteran of three Olympic teams, finished second in the discus with a throw of 217-3. He is the same John Powell who had said after winning the national championship in June that he would not come here because he no longer could compete internationally. The only man to beat him was the world record-holder, East Germany’s Jurgen Schult, with a throw of 225-6.

The United States now has 13 medals, 5 of them gold. There is potential for another gold medal today, with Carl Lewis competing in the long jump. He has won 51 straight times.

But the East Germans continue to dominate. Schult gave them their second gold of the day Friday, their eighth of the meet, after Torsten Voss had won the decathlon with 8,680 points. It was the first time an East German has won the decathlon in a major international meet.

The anticipated decathlon duel between Great Britain’s Daley Thompson and West Germany’s Jurgen Hingsen never materialized, since both were injured.

Hingsen withdrew after the first day of competition Thursday. Thompson, who has a pulled groin, persevered but finished ninth. Including the 1983 World Championships and the 1984 Olympics, he had won 11 straight decathlons.

East Germany’s women added four medals Friday, bringing the total for their teams to 22. Besides Drechsler’s bronze in the long jump, they finished second and third in the 100-meter high hurdles and third in the 10,000.

Bulgaria’s Ginka Zagorcheva won the high hurdles in 12.34, finishing well ahead of her favored teammate, Yordanka Donkova. In explaining the Bulgarian women’s training methods, an Italian television sportscaster said this week that they became stronger by running in the hills after goats. After the Bulgarians protested, he apologized three days later.

Everyone chased Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen in the 10,000 meters Friday night, but from a distance. After only three laps, she was ahead by seven seconds. Through 5,000 meters, she was ahead by 17 seconds. With five laps remaining, she was still ahead by 14 seconds.

She finished in 31 minutes 5.85 seconds. The Soviet Union’s Elena Zhupieva was second after a last-lap charge in 31:09.40.

“It was easy, too easy,” said Arve Kristiansen, Ingrid’s husband.

Asked why Kristiansen had been allowed to run by herself for so long, American Lynn Jennings said: “This is the first time a lot of us have run a 10k on the track together. We’re still learning how to do it.”

In the first women’s 10,000 run in a major international meet, Jennings finished sixth in 31:45.43, the second-fastest time ever by an American. Mary Decker Slaney holds the national record at 31:35.3.

Slaney won the 1,500 and the 3,000 in the first World Championships four years ago at Helsinki, Finland. Those were the only gold medals U.S. women won in 1983. Slaney is injured this year, but Joyner-Kersee delivered for the Americans.

Even though he knew she was sore after winning the heptathlon, her husband, Kersee, told her to be prepared to take all six jumps Friday.

“I told her that whether she had the world record or was in fifth place, she was going for six jumps,” Kersee said. “It was her championship fight. She had to be able to go six rounds.”

She did not need it. Tied for third after her first jump of 22-8, she moved into the lead with a second jump of 23-4 1/2, then put herself out of reach with her third jump.

“I never thought it was a foul,” Joyner-Kersee said. “Anyone could see on the monitor it was a legal jump. I’m just glad they reviewed it.”

One of the first to congratulate her on the jump was Drechsler. She and Joyner-Kersee both come from underprivileged backgrounds, Drechsler from Gora, East Germany, and Joyner-Kersee from East St. Louis, and have become friends.

“She kept blinking her eyes at me as if to say hello and good jump,” Joyner-Kersee said. “It wasn’t words so much, it was a warm kind of feeling.”

It continued to the victory stand.

“She said, ‘You’re the best,’ ” Joyner-Kersee said. “We both had tears in our eyes. Heike was crying. It made me cry, too. I think we’re both the best.”

Track and Field Notes There has been a persistent rumor this week that East Germany’s Heike Drechsler is pregnant. She is married to an East German soccer goalie. But when asked about it Friday night, she blushed and laughed. “I don’t know about it,” she said. “I’m so fat that you think that?” . . . Drechsler added her bronze medal in the long jump to the silver medal she earned last Sunday in the 100 meters.

Carl Lewis qualified for today’s long jump final but complained of nausea. The other Americans in the competition, Larry Myricks and Mike Conley, also qualified. . . . The only American to qualify for Sunday’s 5,000-meter final was Sydney Maree. Steve Scott and Jim Spivey qualified for today’s 1,500-meter final.

The highest-placed American in the decathlon was Gary Kinder, who finished 12th. He thanked Great Britain’s Daley Thompson for helping him score more than 8,000 points for the first time. Even though he was injured, Thompson remained in the competition Friday and finished ninth. “He’s the best ever in the world,” Kinder said. “This is the bravest thing he has ever done. When things go wrong for other people, they drop out. I knew I wanted to get 8,000 points. Going into the 1,500 meters (the last event), Daley said, ‘Stick with me, kid, and you’ve got it.’ ” Kinder did, finishing less than two seconds behind Thompson and scoring 8,030 points.