Lewis Takes Gold in Long Jump, but Teammates Falter

The American long jumpers came to the World Championships with high expectations of sweeping the event.

There was reason for optimism. Carl Lewis, Larry Myricks and Mike Conley had all surpassed 28 feet in the national meet last June at San Jose, an unprecedented accomplishment.

Moreover, the Americans had swept the event in the inaugural World Championships in 1983 at Helsinki, Finland.

Lewis and Myricks were also skeptical of the accomplishments of the Soviet Union’s Robert Emmiyan, the only other long jumper besides Bob Beamon to surpass the 29-foot barrier.

So much for great expectations. Lewis won the long jump, as expected, Saturday night, soaring 28 feet 5 1/2 inches on his first and third jumps.

But Myricks and Conley weren’t among the top three.

As for Emmiyan, he proved to the Americans that he’s a legitimate jumper, whether he’s competing in his own state of Armenia or in a world-class event.

The Soviet athlete jumped 28 feet to take the silver medal. Then, Italy’s Giovanni Evangelisti deprived Myricks of the bronze medal on his last attempt, a 27-6 effort.

Myricks had to settle for fourth at 27-4, while Conley fouled on five of his six jumps and wound up eighth. His only legal jump came on his second attempt, a subpar, for him, 26-7.

Myricks and Conley certainly weren’t at their best on a mild evening with negligible wind at Olympic Stadium.

Lewis, however, was consistent, as usual. He had four jumps beyond 28 feet, a performance that was comparable to his season-opening meet in the Mt. San Antonio Relays last April, when he had six jumps in the 28-foot range, four of them legal.

It was Lewis’ first gold medal in the World Championships after finishing second to Canada’s Ben Johnson in the 100 meters last Sunday. “I thought the competition went very well today,” Lewis said. “I had a stomach problem and I was really pleased to perform so well because I wasn’t really feeling that well. I’m happy that I had a better performance than I did in 1983 (at Helsinki).”

Lewis’ “stomach problem” has plagued several other American athletes.

Lewis had previously categorized Emmiyan as a 27-6 type jumper, who hadn’t produced consistently high marks. As an example, Emmiyan jumped 29-1 last May in Tsakhkadzor, Armenia, a high altitude site. Only Beamon has jumped farther, his enduring world record of 29-2 1/2 established at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. The next week in Italy Emmiyan couldn’t get past 27 feet.

Lewis was reminded of his and Myricks’ skepticism of Emmiyan.

“It really proved that (Emmiyan) could jump that far,” Lewis said. “I don’t think we were really prepared for this competition. I don’t believe Larry was at his best, or Mike. It’s obviously late in the season for us, and everyone was tired.

“I didn’t really discredit (Emmiyan’s) performance. I didn’t say that he didn’t jump 29 feet. I had said it was possible. I think what he did prove was he can perform at this level and in this type of competition.”

Emmiyan, only 22, has good speed on the runway. And, if he were a punter in football, he would be credited with exceptional hang time.

He gets more height than most jumpers, appearing to hang in the air before he descends. When told that the American jumpers hadn’t held him in high regard, Emmiyan, a smiling, seemingly sociable athlete, said through an interpreter:

“I jumped (28-3) at Moscow (Goodwill Games in 1986). I never imagined that the Americans had this idea of me. I will improve myself by competing against Carl Lewis and the others and it will help me to get more experience.”’

Emmiyan said he came into the competition with a sore left hamstring and might have done better if he was physically sound.

As for his 29-1 jump, he said that that there is not much difference between a mark at high altitude and sea level, and that his dream is to have the same result at low altitude.

The track and field purists would dispute that, contending that there is an advantage of competing in thin air as opposed to sea level sites, such as Rome.

Emmiyan said that he had competed against Lewis once previously when he was younger. But the meeting here was their first confrontation since he had achieved world status.

The Soviet athlete, who stands 5 feet 10 inches and weighs 152 pounds, was ranked No. 1 in the world last year by Track & Field News. That ranking rankled Lewis, who has often said that the long jump is, by far, his favorite event.

In any event, Lewis put away another contender and has now won 52 straight long jump competitions dating back to 1981.

He wasted little time setting the tone for the event. He sailed 28-5 1/2 on his first jump, came back for 28-4 1/2 and then went 28-5 1/2 for a model of consistency.

After a 27-8 jump and a foul by running through the pit, Lewis concluded his series with a a jump of 28-2 3/4.

Myricks was holding third until Evangelisti went 27-6 on his last jump. The partisan Italian crowd cheered extensively, but there was some booing in the sector near the long jump pit.

A Finnish reporter, who was at the site, insisted that an Italian judge gave Evangelisti a better mark than he deserved. That couldn’t be substantiated, and Myricks hurriedly left the stadium before he could be interviewed.

Myricks still had one remaining jump to reclaim third place. But he couldn’t improve on his previous best, a mediocre 26-7.

The crowd whistled as Myricks came down the runway, the European version of booing. They gave the same treatment to Cuba’s Jaime Jefferson and Conley, who had one last opportunity to take the bronze away from Evangelisti. They didn’t do it.

This is the second time that Evangelisti has snatched a medal away from Myricks in a major competition. The Italian got the bronze medal in the long jump in Los Angeles in the 1984 Olympic Games. Myricks was fourth.

When someone suggested that the Americans aren’t performing to expectations here and that track and field is on the decline in the U.S., Lewis said:

“One, I think the rest of the world is catching up with us and, two, the American system is generally under a collegiate mentality in all our championships meets. We’re competing in meets in June for a World Championship in September.

“If this meet were held six weeks ago there would be a huge difference in our performance. We’re going to have to start gearing towards the major meets instead of keeping them locked into the old system.”

The long season might have had a negative effect on Myricks, Conley and some other American athletes. Lewis, though, is another matter.