Powell Gets the Jump on Lewis Again : Olympic trials: World record-holder wins at 28-3 1/2, beating Olympic champion by 3 1/2 inches.

The track and field world waited almost 10 months for the rematch in the long jump between Mike Powell and Carl Lewis, but when it finally occurred Wednesday night in the U.S. Olympic trials, it was like opening a vintage bottle of wine only to discover that it had gone flat.

Despite what one of sport’s most worn cliches tells us, this one was over before it was over.

After Powell regained the lead at the close of the third round--out of six--with a jump of 28 feet 3 1/2 inches, Lewis fouled once and passed twice, conceding the victory to the only true challenger he has had in the last half-decade in the event.

He would never have settled for second place 10 months ago, but that was before Powell ended Lewis’ 10-year, 65-meet winning streak and broke Bob Beamon’s 23-year-old world record in the World Championships at Tokyo.

So, Wednesday night, Lewis said his objective simply was to finish among the first three for an automatic berth on the U.S. Olympic team.

In the most stunning result of these trials, Lewis failed to do that Saturday in the 100 meters, an event in which he is the two-time Olympic champion and the world record-holder.

That fueled speculation that perhaps age, or some unrevealed injury or illness, had caught up to the 30-year-old Lewis.

But, although he confessed that he has been suffering from headaches that he says are caused by the sultry conditions here, he dispelled those notions while earning a place on his fourth Olympic team with a third jump of 28 feet. It was the 65th jump of 28 feet or better in his unparalleled career.

“I felt that I could jump well enough to make the team,” Lewis said, seemingly surprised that anyone would doubt he would be going to Barcelona. “That never entered my mind.”

One long jumper who will not be there is Larry Myricks, 36, who was attempting to make his fifth Olympic team. The 1988 bronze medalist behind Lewis and Powell finished seventh with a best of 25-9 1/2. The third member of the Olympic team is Joe Greene, a former NCAA champion from Ohio State, who had a best of 27-1 1/4.

Like Lewis, Powell said that he also is satisfied simply to be on the team. He suffered a hamstring injury May 16 and could work out only in a swimming pool until two weeks ago.

After his third jump Wednesday night, he went to the medical tent for therapy. He did not have to jump again. Even before the fifth round began, Lewis congratulated him, providing an anticlimactic finish to one of the meet’s main events before a crowd of 16,329 in Tad Gormley Stadium.

In contrast, the men’s 800-meter final featured superior performances and a dramatic conclusion despite a temperature of 92 degrees at race time.

Johnny Gray of Los Angeles won in 1:42.80, the fastest time ever run on U.S. soil, the third-fastest ever by an American anywhere and the fastest time by any runner in the world since 1988.

Gray, 32, might even have challenged his seven-year-old American record if he had not slowed in the stretch to twice look over his shoulder.

“The last 50 yards I eased up, and I hate that I did that,” said Gray, now a three-time Olympian.

Although Gray was never threatened, the other runners were not exactly jogging. The times of 1:43.67 by Mark Everett, 1:43.97 by Jose Parrilla and 1:44.0 by George Kersh are the second, third and fourth fastest in the world this year.

Believing that Kersh finished third for the final automatic berth on the Olympic team, officials handed him a small American flag for the obligatory victory lap. They were unaware that he was out-leaned at the finish line by Parrilla, a University of Tennessee sophomore.

Natasha Kaiser feared she might suffer the same fate as Kersh in the women’s 400, so she did not wait until the finish line to catch Dannette Young for third place. Kaiser gave herself all of a five-meter cushion, finishing in 50.42 to Young’s 50.46.

“I didn’t want them to give me the flag, run around and then have it taken back,” Kaiser said.

After winning the race in 50.22, Rochelle Stevens credited her mother, who also is her coach at Memphis, Tenn. “Even when she isn’t at a competition, I can hear her voice,” Stevens said. Jearl Miles was second in 50.30.

The proudest father was Jud Logan, who won in the men’s hammer with a sixth and final throw of 262-10 to earn a berth on his third Olympic team. But he had his victory lap interrupted when he almost dropped one of his small daughters and tripped over the other one, resulting in not particularly joyful tears.

Ken Flax also made the team by finishing third in the event four months after suffering a hip injury when involved in a hit-and-run accident north of San Francisco.

Carla Garrett, one of the country’s best female weightlifters and daughter of former NFL player Carl Garrett, improved from sixth to second on her final discus throw of 198-7. The winner was Connie Price-Smith at 202-6, one inch shy of the American record.

In an attempt to break the tension during the competition, Penny Neer, who finished third at 193-6, placed a rubber snake in one of the other women’s gym bags.

“One of the officials came running when she heard the scream,” Neer said. “She thought the (other thrower) was hurt.”

Not expecting to make the Olympic team, Neer said that she thought the highlight of her summer would be when she appears as the Grand Marshall in a parade in her hometown of Hillsdale, Mich. (population 7,000).

“I’ve been practicing how to wave,” she said.