Michael Marsh’s Year of Gold : Track and field: Double Olympic winner emerged as a star in the 1992 Mt. SAC Relays.

In last year’s Mt. San Antonio Relays at Walnut, Michael Marsh literally was on the outside looking in. Starting in the sixth lane, he figured to be an also-ran in a 100-meter race that featured world record-holder Carl Lewis and Nigerian newcomer Davidson Ezinwa.

But while Lewis and Ezinwa dueled in the middle of the track, Marsh streaked past both of them to win in 9.93 seconds, the world’s second-fastest time in 1992.

It was the last time Marsh would be overlooked. The Santa Monica Track Club sprinter, formerly of Hawthorne High and UCLA, went on to win two gold medals in the Summer Olympics at Barcelona, one as a member of the world record-setting 400-meter relay team and one in the 200 meters, in which he set an American record of 19.73 in the semifinals. He won the final in 20.01.

Upon his return to Mt. SAC to run with Lewis, Leroy Burrell and Floyd Heard in a 400-meter relay today, Marsh, 25, spoke about the season in which he emerged as one of track and field’s elite.

Question: Before last year’s 100 meters at Mt. SAC, no one, except perhaps for you, expected you to win. How significant was that victory for you?

Answer: I was more surprised than you may think. I didn’t expect to run that fast that early in the year. You could call it a turning point in my career. I always believed I could run fast, but, after that race last year, there was no doubt.

Q: Although you had most of your success early last year in the 100, you didn’t make the Olympic team in that event, finishing fourth in the trials at New Orleans. What happened?

A: I didn’t give 100% to the 100. I gave it 98%. Since it came first, it was in the back of my mind, ‘If I don’t make it in the 100, I can still make it in the 200.’ It’s important in track and field to stay in the present. I was looking too many days ahead, and that was a mistake.

Q: You not only made the team in the 200, you won the gold medal at Barcelona. As a result, do you think people look at you now as a 200-meter runner instead of a 100-meter runner, and, if so, does that bother you because the 100 is more glamorous and lucrative than the 200?

A: I don’t know about other people, but I look at myself as a sprinter. Period. I’ve run track for 12 years now, and for at least the first seven or eight years, I did it for free. I did it for the pure joy of it. When that changes, you’re done. So it doesn’t matter if I’m paid more for the 100 or the 200. When you get caught up in that, it’s the beginning of the end.

Q: In the fall of 1990, you left John Smith, who coached you during your years at UCLA, and went to Houston to train with the Santa Monica Track Club and Tom Tellez. Could you have achieved as much so soon if you had not made that change?

A: If I gave you a definite answer, it would be pure speculation. When I got the gold medal, everybody told me how wise I had been. But I ran worse the first year in Houston than I had at UCLA, and the reaction was the opposite. You never know which way life is going to go.

Q: Why did you leave?

A: At the time I went to Houston, I thought it was a better environment for sprinters. Taking nothing away from John, he’s a great coach. But there weren’t too many sprinters at UCLA. It wasn’t the most positive thing for me to leave. But, today, he understands.

Q: Among your teammates in Houston are the two most recent world record-holders in the 100, Lewis and Burrell. Have they been threatened by your success?

A: The No. 1 priority in order for the sport to move forward is to have great performances. If one of us has a great performance, it inspires the other guys. I don’t think they view me as a threat.

Q: Now that you have two gold medals, what’s left to prove?

A: I think a lot of people view what I did last year as an aberration or a fluke. What gets you respect in track is consistency over a number of years. I’ve got a lot left to accomplish. That’s a challenge. But this sport has always been a challenge for me. The only thing different now is that people will pay attention to how I handle this one.

Q: You ran your 19.73 in the semifinals of the 200 at Barcelona. If you hadn’t let up near the finish line, you would have broken the oldest individual world record in the books, the 19.72 run by Italy’s Pietro Mennea in 1979. Any regrets that you backed off?

A: None at all. Those were my instructions from Coach Tellez. If I was ahead, I was supposed to slow down to save myself for the final. How did I know I was going to run 19.73? I had no idea I was running that fast. I still catch myself sometimes saying, ‘Why did you slow down, you dummy?’ But that was 1992. It’s gone. Life is a series of strokes. When you finish one, you have to go on to the next one.