THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 4 : LEWIS IS WARNED : Coach Issues Sprinter an Ultimatum: Behave or Lose Spot on Relay Team

Carl Lewis was given an ultimatum Monday by U.S. sprint-relay coach Russ Rogers: Behave or be removed from the 400-meter relay team.

“If he continues to disturb the team, I will have to take him off,” Rogers said of Lewis, who is attempting to repeat his four-gold-medal performance of the Los Angeles Games.

“The next incident he does to disrupt the team, he’s got to go. I have no choice,” Rogers said. “He’s at the end of his rope. The only thing he can do is hang himself.”

Lewis is attempting to defend his Olympic victories in the 100- and 200-meter dashes and the long jump, in addition to the relay.

Rogers said Lewis has a poor attitude during practice.

“He doesn’t give 100% throughout,” Rogers said. “It doesn’t affect me, because I’ve had him before, and he knows the system. But the other guys are upset.”

One who was upset was Stan Huntsman, head coach of the U.S. track team. Huntsman and Lewis got into a shouting match Sunday.

Huntsman became so upset that he ordered Joe Douglas, Lewis’ business manager and adviser, not to appear at the team’s training sites.

Douglas defied the order Monday when he attended a practice session.

“He snuck in,” Rogers said. “Apparently, all the paper work didn’t go through on it yet.”

Repeated attempts to contact Douglas and Lewis were unsuccessful, but the coach and athlete have been lobbying for Joe DeLoach to be on the relay team instead of Albert Robinson. DeLoach and Lewis run for Douglas’ Santa Monica Track Club.

Robinson finished fourth in the 100-meter dash at the U.S. Olympic trials in July, and DeLoach was fifth. After eight weeks of haggling, Rogers said he was following tradition and taking the first four finishers in the trials--Lewis, Dennis Mitchell, Calvin Smith and Robinson--for the team.

The decision angered Lewis and Douglas, who argued that DeLoach deserved to be on the team because he was the better relay runner, having beaten Lewis in the 200-meter dash at the trials.

“The relay team still hasn’t jelled, but it’s looking better and making progress,” Huntsman said.

Huntsman and Rogers are concerned that some of the inconsistencies during workouts will show up during competition, costing the U.S. team the gold medal it is heavily favored to win.

Rogers said Lewis and Douglas were “causing too much trouble.”

“The rest of the team should be running instead of being concerned about problems that Carl and Joe are creating,” Rogers said.

While he would not elaborate on the purported problems, Rogers said many of them involve criticism of the coaching staff, capped by Lewis’ outburst with Huntsman.

Last month, Lewis threatened not to run on the relay, saying the coaches were making too many strict rules.

Rogers said he has the support of the coaching staff and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“I wasn’t sure the staff supported me,” Rogers said. “But now I think they realize what he’s been saying and doing all along. He’s used up all his resources.”