BARCELONA '92 OLYMPICS / DAY 10 : Conley, Watts: Future Is Now : Track and field: Their performances shine through the cloud of drug use in the sport.

By JULIE CART

Aug. 4, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

BARCELONA —

The best and worst in track and field shone through Monday night at Monjuic Stadium, where the issue that has turned fans away from the sport for a decade was followed quickly by examples of track’s richness.

The juxtaposition: Drugs and the taint of them, and youthful grace and strength.

Once again, an athlete who admitted having taken performance-enhancing drugs in the past has won an Olympic gold medal. Mark McKoy of Canada won the 110-meter hurdles convincingly, in 13.12 seconds, the fifth-fastest in the world this year.

But right on the heels of McKoy’s victory, and offering a counterpoint, were the performances of Quincy Watts and Mike Conley, who set Olympic records.

Watts, of USC, ran 43.71 in a 400-meter semifinal, the second-fastest quarter mile of all time.

On his sixth, and last, triple jump, Conley leaped farther than anyone ever had. His jump of 59 feet 7 1/2 inches was a world record until the wind gauge registered 2.1 meters per second, 0.1 meters stronger than allowable for record purposes.

The world record of 58-11 1/2 is held by American Willie Banks.

Conley got his Olympic record on his second jump, 57-10 1/4, which bettered the former mark of 57-9 1/2, held by Khristo Markov of Bulgaria.

It was a cool night, that, judging by the schedule, was supposed to be quiet. But nothing was sedate, beginning with McKoy’s surprising victory.

He got off to a fast start and won by a large margin. Tony Dees of Tampa, Fla., won the silver medal in 13.24 and Jack Pierce of Marlton, N.J., won the bronze in 13.26.

McKoy was fast on the track, but he could not outrun the questions about his past.

He was suspended by the Canadian track federation in 1988, after leaving the Seoul Olympics soon after it was revealed that sprinter Ben Johnson had tested positive for drugs. Canadian officials were angered that McKoy did not run on the 400-meter relay team and that he did not inform them of his decision to leave.

Because of that, McKoy was banned from competing within Canada for a year and from representing Canada internationally for two years.

Then, in the spring of 1989, the Guyana-born hurdler admitted, while testifying under oath during Canada’s Dubin inquiry into drug use in sport, to having used anabolic steroids and human growth hormone--both banned by the international track federation and the International Olympic Committee.

McKoy said he started on the drugs in 1987, when he began to train with Johnson and his coach, Charlie Francis. Because of his admission of drug use, McKoy’s 60-meter indoor world record was stripped.

He vowed at the time never to compete for Canada again.

Here Monday, McKoy, who dedicated his medal to his wife and baby daughter, answered the inevitable drug questions with patience--but only to a point.

“I just forgot about the whole thing. It’s history,” he said. “I think track and field wants to put it behind them. It was a bad episode on the whole.”

The future of track and field might be determined by athletes such as Watts, 22, and Conley, 29.

Watts need not have run as fast as he did, but he said he had no idea of the race’s pace. Ensured of advancing to the final as the winner of the heat, Watts slowed in the last five meters. Still, his pace was so fast that, behind him, four others set national records.

“I came out today to run the curve hard,” Watts said. “Coming down the straight, I told myself just to relax. I had more left. When you come to a meet like the Olympic Games, you don’t look to see how fast you run. But if the Olympic record comes, I’ll take it.”

Watts’ time ranks second only to Butch Reynolds’ world record of 43.29. Also in Watts’ heat was Danny Everett, who faltered badly and finished last in 56.61. Everett, the 1988 bronze medalist, has been suffering with an ankle injury and probably will be replaced on the 1,600 relay.

Then, as if to underscore track’s potential for drama, British 400-meter runner Derek Redmond fell to the ground on the first straightaway after straining his right hamstring and was helped by his father across the finish line.

Still more drama was generated in the triple jump. There was no more jubilant winner than Conley, who was a silver medalist in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Charlie Simpkins of Murfreesboro, Tenn., won the silver medal Monday.

Conley, of Fayetteville, Ark., leaped and bounded and turned a somersault after his near-record jump.

“It’s Cloud 10, just under heaven,” he said. “It skipped right over nine.”

Track and Field Medalists

MEN’S 110 HURDLES

GOLD: Mark McKoy (Canada)

SILVER: Tony Dees (United States)

BRONZE: Jack Pierce (United States)

MEN’S 10,000

GOLD: Richard Chelimo (Kenya)

SILVER: Addis Abebe (Ethiopia)

BRONZE: Salvatore Antibo (Italy)

TRIPLE JUMP