THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 14 : Suddenly Shy, Cruz Skips His 1,500 Heat

Apparently distressed by the furor over an interview he did with a Rio de Janeiro television reporter, Brazil’s Joaquim Cruz, suddenly shy, was a no-show Friday at the Olympic Stadium for his 1,500-meter semifinal race.

Also missing was Morocco’s Said Aouita, the world record-holder, who has a pulled left hamstring. As a result, one of the glamour races of the Olympics, featuring the anticipated rematch between Aouita and Great Britain’s Steve Cram in the 1,500-meter final Saturday, has lost some of its luster.

Out of the race even before the Olympics began were two-time gold medalist Sebastian Coe, who didn’t qualify for the British team, and Somalia’s Abdi Bile, the 1987 world champion, who is injured.

Thus, Cram becomes the favorite to win the 1,500. He qualified easily for the final, finishing second behind Kenya’s Kipkoech Cheriuyot in a semifinal. Also looking strong, the United States’ Steve Scott of Fallbrook won his semifinal.

After 3 days of talking too much, Cruz was unavailable for comment Friday. But speculation was that he has been haunted by the television interview that he did Tuesday in the wake of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s disqualification for violating rules against the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

In the interview, Cruz, the 1984 gold medalist in the 800 meters, alleged that other athletes have improved their performance by “abnormal means.”

He specifically mentioned U.S. gold-medal winners Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee. He said that Griffith Joyner “looks more like a man than a woman” and that Joyner-Kersee “looks like a gorilla.”

When his comments from the interview were spread the next day throughout the world, including South Korea, Cruz, who lives in Eugene, Ore., was distraught. In an emotional scene at Griffith Joyner’s hotel Wednesday night, he tearfully denied that he had made the comments.

But by Thursday morning, Griffith Joyner’s manager, Gordon Baskin, had seen a transcript of the interview, which was done in Portuguese, and was convinced that Cruz had not been misquoted.

Cruz, who won the silver medal Monday behind Kenya’s Paul Ereng in the 800 meters, ran Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 1,500 meters. Although he qualified for Friday’s semifinal, he didn’t appear to have his heart in the race. He finished seventh in his heat.

Afterward, when he was approached by members of a Brazilian television camera crew, he angrily brushed them off.

He still maintained in an interview with newspaper reporters that he had not made derogatory comments about the U.S. athletes.

If running well, Cruz would have been a medal contender in Saturday’s final.

Aouita would have been the favorite, although he lost the last time he met Cram in 1985. That was Aouita’s last loss--except for an unimportant 3,000-meter steeplechase race last summer--until Monday, when he finished third behind Ereng and Cruz.

With his usual lack of humility, Aouita said afterward that he still is the world’s best 800-meter runner. But there was speculation that he was injured, and his absence Friday confirmed it.

“A healthy Said Aouita is going to get a medal,” Scott said. “But if you’re not healthy, or if you don’t make it through the heats, that’s part of the Olympic Games.

“All those guys who are missing have big names, but they’re not here. So we’re the big names now.”

Scott said he believed that he could contend for a medal if he runs as well in the final as he did in semifinal. His time was 3:38.20, second among the finalists to Cheriuyot’s 3:38.09.