Track and Field / Julie Cart : Powell Possesses Silver Medal, Silver Tongue

Mike Powell, Olympic silver medalist in the long jump, is a star in the making, but with a twist.

He not only does the jumping, he does the promoting as well, serving as his own huckster. As Powell showed at Seoul, he has got the credentials, but not, he thinks, the attention.

He seized the attention Tuesday at a media luncheon promoting the Times/Eagle Indoor Games, which will be held Friday night in the Forum. Powell was a glib and eager speaker, alone in the spotlight at last. After years in the shadows of such long jump stars as Carl Lewis and Larry Myricks, Powell said he has to be outrageous to get noticed.

“It motivates me and it bothers me,” Powell, 25, said of Lewis’ dominance of both the event and its coverage. “It’s always been Larry and Carl. Larry has paid his dues, jumping well for more than 10 years. I guess I have to be patient.”

Not until the U.S. Olympic trials last year did Powell separate himself from the pack. Nearly to his demise.

The long jump at the trials in Indianapolis took place in horrendous weather--rain and strong winds. Powell, who jumped well in qualifying, was having a bad day in the finals. His first jump, 26 feet 5 inches, was 15 inches shorter than he jumped the day before. Then he fouled on his next four jumps.

With only one jump left to make the Olympic team, Powell was in trouble.

“My coach calmed me down and I said a little prayer,” Powell said.

It worked. He improved by a foot on his last jump and made the team, behind Lewis and Myricks.

At Seoul, Powell’s jump of 27-10 1/4 was second to Lewis’ winning effort of 28-7 1/2. Myricks was third at 27-1 3/4.

But did that make him a star?

Nope. As a matter of fact, Powell was still stinging Tuesday after being snubbed by the promoters of a televised slam dunk contest. Lewis had been invited and so had triple jumper Mike Conley. Powell, who says he’s very good, was not invited.

“I guess I don’t have a big enough name,” he said.

Not one to let rejection stop him, however, Powell went to a gym and videotaped some of his moves and sent the tape to the promoters.

His best dunk?

“I have a dunk where I dunk from inside the free-throw line, with the ball cupped (on his forearm) and I do a 360-degree turn at the rim. I think I’d give the NBA guys a run for their money.”

After seeing the tape, the contest promoters invited Powell to compete in next year’s event.

Powell is brash but good-natured about it. He knows he can create interest by stirring things up. He tried it Tuesday by making a joking reference to a new hair style being worn by Lewis. Powell called it a “Tracy Chapman cut,” after singer Chapman’s short dreadlocks.

“Maybe he just needs a little motivation,” Powell said of Lewis. “Maybe he needs someone to make fun of his haircut.”

Lewis, who has won 58 consecutive long jump competitions, may not need motivation, but Powell can use the attention.

Mary Decker Slaney, who pulled out of a meet last week with a sore Achilles’ tendon, will run the 1,000 meters Friday night. In case there were doubts as to her fitness, meet director Will Kern said again that Slaney would be going for the world record at that distance.

That was announced earlier, but Slaney’s fragility came into question Tuesday.

She holds the U.S. record at 1,000 meters--2 minutes 37.6 seconds--set last month at Portland, Ore. The world record is 2:34.8, held by Brigitte Kraus of West Germany.

Slaney was originally scheduled to run the mile at the meet, which would have pitted her against Tatiana Samolenko of the Soviet Union. After running promising times in the 1,000, Slaney decided to drop out of the mile.

Now it’s Samolenko’s turn to drop out. Completely. Samolenko, who was the 1988 gold medalist at 3,000 meters and bronze medalist at 1,500, did not arrive Tuesday with the rest of the Soviet delegation. Team officials said she was ill and could not make the flight.

Meanwhile, Slaney has had a mixed indoor campaign. She ran against Paula Ivan, the Olympic 1,500 champion from Romania, in the Millrose Games at New York. Ivan won, but barely. Slaney was a strong second and her speed in that race may portend well for her chances in the 1,000 meters.

The Soviets, minus Samolenko, still have three world-class athletes in the meet. Foremost among them is pole vaulter Rodion Gataullin, the silver medalist at Seoul. Gataullin briefly held the indoor world record this year, vaulting 19-9. Countryman Sergei Bubka took the record back with a jump of 19-9 1/4 less than a week later.

Olga Bryzgina, winner of two Olympic golds, is entered in the 400 meters. Bryzgina won the 400 meters at Seoul and anchored the Soviet Union’s gold-medal 1,600-meter relay team.

Also in the group is Rudolf Povarnitsin, the Olympic bronze medalist in the high jump.

Track Notes

Said Aouita, world record-holder at 1,500, 2,000 and 5,000 meters, has not decided which event he will run in Friday’s meet. The versatile Moroccan has a choice of the 1,500 or 3,000 in the meet. If he chooses the 1,500, he will be paired with Marcus O’Sullivan of Ireland. They were supposed to run the mile last weekend in New Jersey, but Aouita chose the 3,000 instead. O’Sullivan won the mile in that meet and Aouita won his race. O’Sullivan last Friday set a world indoor for 1,500 meters in 3:35.6. . . . High jumper Louise Ritter and pole vaulter Billy Olson will be guest DJs at 11 today on country music station KZLA. Olson, a communications major in college, said he worked at his college radio station. “If they let us choose the music it will be rockin’ country,” he said. . . . Ritter was quick to add a rejoinder to Mike Powell’s complaint about not being invited to a slam dunk contest. “They should have invited me, too,” she said. Ritter, who played basketball in elementary school, can stuff a volleyball.