OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : New Coach Means New Attitude for Watts

Everything was great. Quincy Watts was in high gear, sprinting through an account of his rebirth as a dedicated and responsible track star, when his coach interrupted in mid-sentence.

“You are not in great shape,” Bob Kersee said.

“OK,” Watts countered. “I feel great.”

Sitting beside her husband at an Olympic Festival news conference late last week, Jackie Joyner-Kersee smiled knowingly.

Even with the most minor details, it’s Bob’s way or the highway. Watts was learning quickly.

Four months ago, Watts, the 1992 Olympic 400-meter champion, left coach John Smith and put himself under Kersee’s tutelage--and his alert eyes and ears.

“Can’t get away with anything anymore,” Watts said.

Indeed, that’s one of the reasons he said he made the coaching switch.

Watts, who will run a leg in the Olympic Festival 4 X 400-meter relay at Southern Illinois University today, is coming off a disappointing 1993 season that many track experts attribute to his being out of shape.

With his weight near 215 pounds, Watts was fourth in the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, struggling to the finish after part of his shoe came loose.

The broken shoe heel allowed Watts a ready-made excuse, but he knew better. The celebrity of being Olympic champion was slowing him down.

“I had to learn time management,” he said. “I was letting what I was doing off the field interfere with my track time.”

Watts, NCAA 400-meter champion for USC in 1992, stopped short of blaming Smith for his downfall but said, “There comes a point where an athlete hits a dead stage and he needs something new, or somebody new, to motivate him.”

Kersee, Watts said, gets after him “about three times a week.”

Whatever works.

Despite fighting a series of nagging minor injuries, Watts weighs 197 pounds, the same as two years ago at a similar stage in the season.

“I’m way ahead of last year,” he said of his conditioning.

With more intense training ahead, Watts anticipates competing in the Goodwill Games in St. Petersburg, Russia, later this month at about 195 pounds, his “fighting weight.”

Watts was held out of the U.S. nationals in Knoxville, Tenn., last month, but he has pronounced himself fit enough to run a sub-44-second leg in today’s relay.

In the 1992 Olympics, Watts ran a 43.1--the fastest relay leg ever--as the U.S. team wiped out the oldest world record in the books.

He hasn’t regained that form yet, but he’s getting there. And still only 24, he figures to have several prime years left.

“I’ve learned not to put my track secondary to anything anymore,” Watts said. “This is what I do. This is the way I make a living.”

Now rejuvenated, Watts finds himself motivated in a year with no World Championships or Olympics.

“I’m already looking forward to next year,” he said, “but it’s still exciting for me now. I come out to work and I’m excited. I get pushed every day.

“It may be an off year for everybody else, but it’s an interesting year and a fun year for me because I’m being taught a different philosophy and approach.”

Notes

In track, Ronnie Harris of Rialto won the men’s 5,000-meter race in 13:52.62. Other medal winners included Rodney Lewis of Los Angeles, a silver in the 100 meters, 10.28; Devon Edwards of Los Angeles, a silver in the 400 meters, 45.76; and Crystal Irving of Long Beach, a bronze in the 400 meters, 53.10. . . . In judo, Amy Liou of Granada Hills, Christine Shiosaki of Torrance and Yvette Gray of North Hollywood won bronze medals. . . . Jason McEntee of Loyola Marymount and Neil Mendel of Cal State Long Beach played key roles as the North defeated the East, 16-14, 8-15, 15-12, 17-15, in the gold-medal men’s volleyball match. McEntee had 25 kills and 13 digs. Mendel added 12 kills, 11 digs and a team-high five blocks. . . . In weightlifting, Bill Gabriel of Costa Mesa won the silver medal in the 182 3/4-pound class with a career-best 617 1/4-pound total.