TRACK AND FIELD : Watts Barely Advances on a Day of Surprises

After some anxious moments Wednesday, Quincy Watts learned that he had qualified for today’s 400-meter semifinals at the USA Mobil Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Whether that was welcome news for the reigning Olympic champion is questionable.

He not only was unable to talk about his near-collapse in a first round that was supposed to serve merely as a warm-up for Watts and other world-class quarter-milers on the opening day of the championships, he was barely able to breathe as he sprawled on the grass at Hughes Stadium.

Less than three years after he won the gold medal in the 1992 Summer Olympics at Barcelona as a 22-year-old just out of USC, he finished fifth in his heat in 46.21 seconds--2 1/2 seconds slower than his career best.

As only the first two in each heat automatically qualified for the semifinals, Watts, of Calabasas, had to wait to see whether he had one of the next six fastest times. He did, barely, qualifying 16th of 16.

Watts was not the only one among the sport’s marquee names to experience difficulty on an unseasonably cool, drizzly day hardly warmed by a crowd of 2,133. World record-holders Dan O’Brien in the decathlon and Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the heptathlon struggled through the first half of their multi-event competitions.

O’Brien did not win his first three events, including the 100 for the first time in his career, and trailed Chris Huffins by 25 points entering the fourth, the high jump. But he literally leaped in front with a jump of 6 feet 10 1/4 and carries a 54-point lead into today’s final five events.

Joyner-Kersee also leads entering her final three events today, but by only 20 points over Kym Carter, and there is concern that the two-time Olympic champion from UCLA might be undone by a sore left hamstring.

“I think the problem was more mental than physical,” she said while attendants fed her bread and water to combat dizziness.

Watts also was surrounded by attendants, one of whom said that the change in weather, from sunny and hot during his training in Southern California to Oregonian-like conditions here, induced an asthma attack. But Watts’ former coach, John Smith, said it appeared that the sprinter is not nearly as physically fit as he was in 1992 and ‘93, when it appeared that he might redefine the event.

Two other quarter-milers who appeared destined for greatness before illness and injuries overtook them, former UCLA teammates Steve Lewis and Danny Everett, failed to advance beyond the first round.

Otherwise, the event went according to form. Michael Johnson, attempting to become the first man to win both the 200 and 400 in the U.S. championships since Maxie Long in 1899, won his heat in 45.47, the third-fastest qualifying time.

UCLA’s John Godina, attempting to become the first U.S. champion in the shotput and discus since USC’s Parry O’Brien 40 years ago, qualified fifth in the discus with a throw of 196-10.