He Wants a Clean Shot : Godina Thinking Gold Medal and 80 Feet, but Barnes Doesn’t Want to Hear About It

All John Godina did in 1995 was become the first man in 11 years to win the shotput and discus titles in the NCAA championships, earn berths in both events in the World Championships in Sweden and, once there, win the shotput gold medal.

All John Godina, not yet 24 and in his first year out of UCLA, has been asked to do this year is duplicate his Goteborg success in the Summer Olympics at Atlanta by winning the shotput gold medal and at least qualifying for the final in the discus and, oh yes, while he’s at it, save his events from extinction.

Although the shotput and discus have been in one form or another part of track and field competitions since the Ancient Olympics, promoters around the world are threatening to quit scheduling the events because they do not attract ticket buyers but do attract bodies built by steroids who bring the entire sport into disrepute.

Godina, however, has caught their attention, not only because they believe he has the potential to throw unprecedented distances in both events but because they believe he can do it naturally. Could he be “The Great Clean Hope?”

His coach, Art Venegas, thinks so. “He can bring the events back to where they were,” he said. “The world loves the big, soft-spoken, clean-living cowboy-type guy.”

Some of Godina’s competitors are not so impressed, wondering what all the buzz is about. “It’s interesting to me that he’s getting so much publicity,” said Randy Barnes, the shotput world-record holder at 75 feet 10 1/4. “He threw 72 feet. I respect that. But he’s done it once in his life. If I do what I’m capable of, he’ll have to do a lot better than that.”

In the first test of where they stand against each other in the Olympic year, Godina and Barnes, ranked first and second in the United States and first and third in the world, respectively, meet tonight in the shotput at the L.A. Invitational meet in the Sports Arena.

Godina said in an interview with Track & Field News earlier this year that he expects to be challenged early and often.

“I know that no matter what I won last season, this coming year everybody will do their best to beat me,” he said. “I’m going to tattoo a big target on my forehead. Like the ‘Far Side’ cartoon of the deer with the target on its belly. ‘Oooh, bummer of a birthmark.’ That’s me.”

There are other reasons that the other shotputters would like nothing better than to beat Godina. They think he thinks he is too smart to associate with them.

It could be true. “This guy doesn’t tend to fit the mold,” said his manager, Tom Sturak, who represents several shotputters and discus throwers.

But that does not mean the other throwers want to hear it. “I don’t need his friendship or his company,” Barnes said. “He fancies himself as the genius and the rest of us as buffoons. He’s so far out of line.”

A biology major who received an NCAA postgraduate scholarship to concentrate on human physiology and nutrition and an avid reader of nonfiction, Godina does not try to change his competitors’ minds about him. He prefers to spend his time before and after meets in other cities with distance runners.

“Throwers are boring, if you ask me,” he said between bench presses one day recently in the UCLA weight room. “All they talk about is throwing.”

The issue, though, that causes the greatest rift is steroids and other banned performance-enhancing substances. He says he is not on them. He says he is not so sure about many of the others.

That seems to be the prevailing opinion about events, particularly the shotput, in which several of the most prominent athletes, including Barnes, have been suspended for testing positive in recent years.

“I’d bet my house Godina’s not using anything,” said one longtime observer of the throwing events who did not want to be identified. “I wouldn’t bet my house on most.”

Godina, who came to UCLA from Cheyenne, Wyo., said that he was naive about his events until his sophomore year in college, when he first heard from some competitors that some throwers used steroids.

“I wondered why they had to,” he said. “It seemed like you had to be a crappy athlete if you did that.”

Three years later, he has not changed his mind.

“It’s hard to make statements without sounding like I think everyone else in the world is guilty,” he said. “But the biggest problem is that everyone thinks they can’t do anything without drugs.

“I got a gift from whoever threw my genes together so I could throw. Who knows? Maybe someday it will take me to 80 feet. I think it’s very possible. I don’t know if it’s something other throwers will be able to do clean or not. I don’t know if they will give themselves a chance to do it.”

Asked if his event would be easier for him if he used drugs, he said: “No. The hard road is trying to get away with all that stuff.”

It does, however, make the pursuit of records that he suspects were achieved with steroids more challenging.

“It’s a false set of standards, but it’s still something to compete against,” he said. “It’s like Michael Jordan trying to compete against guys from Krypton or something.”

Perhaps at the same time, he said, he can restore faith in his events.

“People who watch track and field have been witness to a deception, but there’s nothing I can do about people’s perceptions over a short period of time,” he said. “Time will tell when it can be done clean.”

When Barnes hears Godina’s comments, he bristles.

“He wants to be the fair-haired boy so he’s got to distance himself from the rest of the throwers as quickly as possible,” Barnes said. “But he’s no different from the rest of us. He’s not above suspicion. Last year, I could have said, ‘Gosh, John hasn’t thrown that far in the past. Why is he doing so now?’ ”

Venegas said that Godina’s proof that he is clean will come with time. Most steroid users do not have long careers in the sport, he said, due either to drug suspensions or injuries.

A long career, Venegas said, also will allow Godina to develop his potential in the discus, a more technical event than the shotput. He was ranked 10th in the world and second in the United States last year in the discus with a best of 213-0.

As for the shotput, Venegas said Godina is a natural, allowing him to overcome his relatively small size--6-4 and 260 pounds--for athletes in that event.

Godina hears regularly from track experts and other competitors who tell him that he would reach his potential faster if he concentrated on one event, but he listens only out of politeness.

“People get freaked out and say you can’t do both,” he said. “Why not? Maybe you can’t do that. Don’t tell me I can’t do that.”

After the Olympics, Godina said that his goal will be to turn the shotput into a marquee event.

“The only thing I’d have to do is throw 80 feet,” he said. “Throw 80 feet and you’ll have plenty of people watch it. There’s no way to get a big production out of a 70-foot throw.”

Considering that Godina threw more than 70 feet only three times last year, including a personal best of 72-2 1/4 in the NCAA championships, how far is he from an 80-foot throw?

“I don’t know,” he said, laughing. “But it’s possible. Nobody pole vaulted 20 feet before Sergei Bubka did it. It would be fun to be like Bubka because it seems like he’s in more of a show than a competition every week.”

A guard and defensive tackle in high school in Cheyenne, Godina had football scholarship offers from Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas A&M.; But Godina, whose father was a thrower in college and bought him his first discus when he was in the fifth grade, preferred track and field.

Godina has discovered that throwing is not devoid of material rewards. For his victory in Sweden, he won a Mercedes-Benz. But a few weeks after receiving it, he gave it to his father.

“I didn’t feel comfortable in it,” he said. “It was a little too nice. You’ve got to go spartan if you want to do well.”

When he heard that story, track and field promoter Al Franken shook his head and said, “I’m not sure John has the right ethic for a world-class athlete today.”