TRACK AND FIELD / NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS : Complaints From Leader in the Discus

Kamy Keshmiri of Nevada, the collegiate record-holder in the men’s discus, led qualifiers in the NCAA Championships on Wednesday, then lashed out at track and field’s hierarchy.

Kesmiri, a 23-year-old senior, said the sport is “dead in this country” and that he is considering retiring after this season because of the lack of financial rewards.

He plans to compete for the United States in the Olympics if he makes the team at the trials June 19-28 at New Orleans.

Before his outburst, Keshmiri thew the discus 211-3 in qualifying, 10 feet farther than the second-best qualifier, Ramon Jimenez-Ganoa of California.

Keshmiri, whose father, Djelal-Ali, was an Iranian Olympian in the discus in 1968, said he was offered “a substantial amount of money” by Iran to compete at the Games. He rejected it, he said, because of his patriotic feelings for the U.S., where he was born and raised.

“This is my country,” he said. “If I make the Olympic team, I can’t see me standing on the Olympic podium for another country.”

Keshmiri said he thought about his decision for a few days, because he is “so disappointed” in the nation’s track and field program.

“It’s mismanaged, it’s misrun,” said Keshmiri, the two-time defending NCAA champion, a two-time national champion and the best thrower in the world this year with a toss of 232 feet 5 inches--the collegiate record, at Salinas, Calif., May 27.

“It could be turned around, but is there somebody willing with the capabilities to do so? There is no help for the athletes. It’s a joke.

“And every four years (at the Olympics), they want you to win.”

Keshmiri also said he never has been approached by a shoe company to sponsor him.

However, under NCAA rules, he is ineligible to receive financial rewards from competition or off-the-track endorsements.

“If he’s complaining about not making money in the sport as a collegian, there are NCAA rules and he must obey these rules,” said a spokesman for The Athletics Congress, national governing body for track and field, who requested anonymity.

” . . . There are a number of athletes in the U.S. who do (make money), many of whom have lesser credentials than he does. ‘What he’s saying is his opinion and he’s obviously wrong.”