The Year in Sports: Rating the News

The Sprint beat The Jump.

The record exploits of U.S. track stars Carl Lewis and Mike Powell dominated the voting in a worldwide poll by The Associated Press for the biggest sports stories of 1991.

The top honor went to Lewis, who set a world record of 9.86 seconds in the 100 meters at the World Track and Field Championships in Tokyo.

Powell, who broke Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old long jump record at the same event, finished a close second in the balloting by sports editors from outside the United States.

The next two top stories involved brilliant athletes whose careers were ended: Magic Johnson forced to retire because of testing positive for the AIDS virus and soccer superstar Diego Maradona brought down by drugs.

A close fifth in the voting was South Africa’s return to the Olympic movement after a 21-year exile.

Newspaper and broadcast subscribers from 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America particip;ated in the poll, listing their choice of the year’s top 20 stories. Points were awarded on a declining scale, with 20 points for a first-place vote to one for a 20th-place vote.

Leading with 501 points was Lewis’ dash in the greatest sprint race of all time -- five others finished under 10 seconds.

Lewis also was involved in the long jump, putting together the greatest series in history, including three jumps of 29 feet or better. But it was Powell who broke the record with a leap of 29-4 1/2.

Powell’s feat received 12 first-place votes in the poll, nine more than Lewis’ record. But Powell received fewer second- and third-place votes and finished second overall with 467 points.

Third with 430 points was Johnson’s stunning announcement that he had contracted the virus that causes AIDS and was retiring from the NBA. In a sign of his worldwide stature, the story received eight first-place votes -- including from papers in Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

It’s rare for basketball to overshadow soccer outside the United States. But Johnson’s illness outpolled the downfall of Maradona, who was banished from soccer following drug indictments in Italy and Argentina. Maradona’s demise was fourth with 426 points.

South Africa’s reinstatement by the International Olympic Committee, which cleared the way for the republic’s return to the Olympics and other international sports, got 410 points.

While the top five stories were listed on virtually all ballots and finished within 100 points of each other, there was a significant dropoff in the rest of the voting.

Sixth with 253 points was the remarkable year of Monica Seles, who established herself as the world’s No. 1 women’s tennis player. She not only made headlines by winning three Grand Slam titles but by skipping Wimbledon without explanation and going into hiding.

The pole-vaulting achievements of Sergei Bubka, who broke his world record several times and became the first athlete in history to clear 20 feet, finished seventh in the voting with 212 points.

Trailing Bubka by one point was France’s stunning upset victory over the United States in the Davis Cup final, the first Cup title for France in 59 years.

Heavyweight Mike Tyson’s indictment on rape charges in the United States was ninth with 192 points, and South Africa’s return to world cricket and a tour of India got 187 points for 10th.

Next were Liverpool’s return to European soccer after a six-year ban imposed following the 1985 Heysel stadium disaster (171 points), German sprinter Katrin Krabbe’s 100-meter and 200-meter victories at Tokyo (161), Michael Stich’s surprising triumph at Wimbledon (160), Ayrton Senna’s third Formula One title (157), and Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson’s unsuccessful return to world competition (156).

The final five spots were taken by Australia’s victory in the rugby World Cup (133), Manchester United’s Cup Winners Cup title (124), the saga of English midfielder Paul Gascoigne’s knee injury and transfer to Lazio of Rome (118), the United States’ final-hole win over Europe in the Ryder Cup (113), and Martina Navratilova’s record-tying 157th tournament victory (108).