THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 12 : Lewis Fails to Sweep : DeLoach Stops Bid for 4 Golds With Win in 200

Given a reprieve the day before in his bid to win four gold medals for a second consecutive Olympics when the 100-meter champion, Canada’s Ben Johnson, was disqualified for a drug violation, Carl Lewis lost a race for the second time in 5 days Wednesday and apparently will have to settle for at least one silver.

This time, in the final of the 200 meters, he was beaten not by a bitter rival, as Johnson was, but by a close friend, his Houston training partner and Santa Monica Track Club teammate, Joe DeLoach.

Timed in 19.75 seconds, DeLoach tied Lewis’ U.S. record and broke the Olympic record of 19.80 that Lewis established in winning four years ago in Los Angeles. Lewis also beat that time Wednesday, finishing second in 19.79.

Brazil’s Silva Robson was third in 20.04.

“This is tremendous for Houston and for America,” Lewis said, seemingly not at all disappointed that he had failed to win.

Lewis and DeLoach are not only fast, but fast friends.

Lewis, trained by University of Houston Coach Tom Tellez, made a visit to Bay City, Tex. 3 years ago to recruit DeLoach for the Cougars. That was a National Collegiate Athletic Assn. rules violation because Lewis was not an authorized representative of the university.

Even though it cost him a year of eligibility, DeLoach still went to Houston, where he became the NCAA 100-meter champion this year, while training next to Lewis.

DeLoach, 21, beat Lewis earlier this summer in the 200 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapolis and had consistently better times in the three qualifying rounds here. In the semifinals earlier Wednesday, DeLoach ran 20.06 to Lewis’ 20.23.

“Carl has been an inspiration to me throughout the whole year,” DeLoach said. “We had been training great coming into this meet. We knew we would run well.”

Lewis had the lead over Robson and Great Britain’s Linford Christie entering the stretch. DeLoach was fourth. But DeLoach had little difficulty running down Robson and Christie, and then passed Lewis about 5 meters from the finish. Lewis glanced at DeLoach and tried to accelerate but couldn’t overtake him.

“I felt that technically I ran the best race I could have,” said Lewis, who did not use the ankle injury he suffered while winning the long jump Monday as an excuse.

Lewis still has a chance for a third gold medal when he competes in the 400-meter relay. He has been campaigning to have DeLoach named to the team instead of Albert Robinson, although Robinson finished ahead of DeLoach in the 100 at the Olympic trials.

“This has never been a personal thing,” Lewis said. “We all know now, America and the world knows, how well Joe is running.”