THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 9 : Joyner Pulls a Fast One in Winning 100 : Runs Wind-Aided 10.54; Ashford Finishes Second

You look to your left. Nobody there. You look to your right. Nobody there. The race is only half over. It’s not supposed to be over until it’s over.

Still, you simply cannot help what you are thinking. It is over. It’s over before it’s over. It’s all yours. Nobody can catch you now. Nothing can stop you now.

So, you burst out smiling.

You are right smack in the middle of a 100-meter sprint in the Olympic Games, in a foreign land, with the world’s fastest women at your sides, so you know this is serious stuff. Doesn’t matter. You simply cannot keep a straight face one second longer. There are smiles and there are smiles--smiles of conquest and smiles of impending conquest. Yours is the kind that can’t wait.

You are Florence Griffith Joyner, and you are about to win the Olympic women’s 100, on a sunny Sunday in Seoul.

You are about to win it in 10.54 seconds, faster than any woman has run the race in the Olympics, although the wind was too strong for it to be counted as an Olympic record.

No sweat, regardless. You already hold the world record, 10.49 seconds, because you just got it at the U.S. Olympic trials in July.

You have come a long way in a short time, and a short way in a fast time.

And here you are, halfway through the race of your fantasies, showing off your talents and your talons--2-inch fingernails painted red, white and blue--and the realization has just struck you that you are already so far out in front, you are home free. The smile just splits your face, parts those cherry-red lipsticked-lips.

Call it the Flo Glow.

“I looked and didn’t see anybody, so I just relaxed,” Joyner said.

Evelyn Ashford had no such luxury. She had to go all out until the very end. But Ashford, the United States’ flag-bearer from Walnut, held off Heike Drechsler of East Germany at the finish line, 10.83 to 10.85, for the silver.

“We did it! USA! One-two!” Ashford cried.

For Ashford, 31, competing in her third Olympics, she now has a gold and a silver from Olympic 100s for her trophy case, just as Carl Lewis does. The only thing keeping her from another gold was Joyner, of whom she said Sunday: “Only a man can run faster than her. Her times are phenomenal.”

For Joyner, 28, who took a silver in the 200 meters at the Los Angeles Olympics, this could be the first of three golds at Seoul, because she has excellent chances of winning the 200 and joining Ashford on a successful 400-meter relay team.

This was the one she desired most, however. “I feel so glad that it’s over,” she said. “The race went better than I thought. I had a much better start than I expected.”

Modeling her start after that of men’s 100-meter gold medalist Ben Johnson of Canada, Joyner explodes with her arms and upper body before her legs ever leave the blocks. Her improved start is what changed her from one of the track world’s best sprinters to one of the world’s unforgettable sprinters.

Her appearance didn’t hurt any, either. FloJo came to fame not only for her performances, but for wearing her fingernails now at lengths of anywhere up to 4 inches, with artistic designs painted on them. She also wore sheer, one-legged running suits that drew considerable attention at the U.S. trials in Indianapolis but had to be stored away during the Olympics in favor of the American team’s one-suit-fits-all uniform.

One compromise was allowed, one FloJo touch--a white belt, her own creation, around her waist during the race. During Saturday’s preliminaries, Joyner also wore an optional wind-resistant hood that was standard issue for the American runners, but for the semifinals and final, Flo let her long hair flow.

The other big change in Joyner’s makeup came when she changed coaches at a somewhat awkward time, between the trials and the Olympics. She left her brother-in-law, UCLA Coach Bob Kersee, for her husband of 10 months, Al Joyner, who won the triple jump in the Los Angeles Games.

It worked out to Florence’s complete satisfaction. Not only did she get a gold medal to go alongside the one Al won in 1984, but a gold also went to Al’s sister, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, in the heptathlon competition that ended Saturday.

“It brings tears to me,” Al said, embracing his wife after the race with a hug that lasted longer than the race itself did.

Al Joyner was the one who picked up a videocassette copy of Ben Johnson’s start after the Canadian’s world-record performance last September at Rome, the one featuring his spread-hands stance, and carried the tape along, wherever he and Florence went, so she could study it.

They even installed a video cassette recorder in their Seoul hotel room for that purpose and brought along some other favorite touches of home, including a portrait of Jesus Christ that is especially important to his wife.

“Her wish is my command,” Al said.

The field for the 100 meters here figured to be a good one all along, but looked as if it would be even better until outstanding sprinters Silke Gladisch Moller and Marlies Gohr of East Germany failed to qualify for Sunday’s final, finishing fifth and sixth, respectively, in the semifinals. Moller, in particular, was expected to be tough to beat, having won both the 100 and 200 meters at the Rome World Championships.

Once they were out, along with highly regarded Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, the U.S. women sensed that all was well. After the semifinal, Ashford and Gwen Torrence went so far as to forecast an American sweep. Torrence, however, finished fifth, a stride behind Drechsler’s 10.85 bronze-medal effort and an eyelash behind Jamaica’s Grace Jackson, who shared her 10.97 time.

Joyner, a clear-cut winner from the starter’s gunshot, spread her arms at the finish line, then was welcomed around the curve by Kevin Young, the UCLA sprinter who brought her a large American flag. She took a victory lap with it.

Still smiling.