Al Joyner Didn’t Have Numbers of an Olympian

Men’s track and field doesn’t get much play on television, or in the newspapers for that matter. So I was somewhat surprised with the recent flap about former Olympian Al Joyner’s traffic wrangle with the oft-maligned Los Angeles Police Department. He claimed that the incident so unnerved him that it forced him to abandon his plans to favor us with his triple jump-hurdles exploits in the ’92 Summer Olympics. There was a lot of sympathetic clucking in the press, particularly on television, and everyone seemed to take Mr. Joyner’s words quite seriously.

For the record, Al Joyner was not ranked nationally in the top 40 in either event last year. This year he is not listed among the top 15 U.S. high hurdlers or triple jumpers (Track & Field News, May ‘92). In short, he has two chances for Olympic glory--slim and nada --and maybe that is why he is retiring, and not too gracefully at that.

JACK SCHIELDGE

Los Angeles