OFF Track : All That Olympic Gold for the U.S. Is Now Tarnished

Michael Johnson, his golden shoes glowing in the bright lights of Atlanta’s Olympic Stadium, flashed across the finish line and was incredulous at his accomplishment. So were the 80,000 spectators. They had witnessed one of the greatest performances in track and field history. Johnson had smashed his world record in the 200 meters by an astonishing .34 seconds, clocking 19.32. That capped an unprecedented gold rush: Johnson became the first man to sweep the 200 and 400 meters at the Olympics.

Gold was an appropriate color for Johnson. Shortly after the 1996 games, his fortunes turned to gold, through endorsements, commercials and appearance fees. His success and the gold medals other Americans won at an Olympics in the United States should also have signaled a track and field renaissance for Americans. It did not.

Instead, the sport has become an embarrassment. What caused the stunning downfall?

The problems began with the lack of leadership at USA Track & Field, the national governing body. Ollan Cassell, its longtime executive director, was voted out of office in December for his failure to advance the sport consistently, the way baseball, football and basketball are promoted.

As a result, with no new executive director in place yet, elite meets and sponsorships have dried up, the national office is in disarray, with a financial shortfall estimated between $200,000 and $300,000, and USATF employees are bolting.

“Track and field is at a critical fork in the road,” said Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic marathon gold medalist and 1976 silver medalist. “Things are totally messed up.”

Bob Wood, chairman of USATF’s committee for men’s long distance running, added: “We missed a huge window in establishing track and field in the sports fan’s mind. We don’t have any vision. When you don’t have vision, a sport perishes.

“So we’re hurting. It doesn’t matter what area you want to look at--people attending meets, the number of meets and media exposure. The only exposure we get is when somebody fails a drug test or Michael Johnson loses a race.”

Those two subjects have been very prominent recently.

Just before last month’s USA Outdoor Championships, two of the sport’s elite, distance runner Mary Slaney and hurdler Sandra Farmer-Patrick, along with hurdler Stephon Flenoy, were suspended by the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the world governing body, after a story was leaked by a member of USATF’s Custodial Board that they had tested positive for drugs.

The three cases, pending for nearly a year, never were announced by USATF because the athletes had not yet exhausted their appeals.

Just before the championships, USATF said Slaney was eligible to compete, because she had not been suspended. Then, based on the published reports, Slaney was suspended by the IAAF. Following the IAAF’s lead, USATF said she was suspended and ineligible for the championships.

After that, USATF compounded the problem, saying Slaney had not tested positive for excessive amounts of testosterone, as originally reported, but would not say what was wrong.

In Farmer-Patrick’s case, USATF said she had actually been suspended earlier in the year, while Flenoy successfully pleaded his suspension to an arbitrator and was allowed to compete in the championships.

Adding to USATF’s woes were the absences of such stars as Johnson, Carl Lewis, Dan O’Brien and Gwen Torrence in the meet that was the qualifier for the U.S. team for next month’s World Championships.

The disintegration of the sport is shocking, considering all the good at last year’s Olympics. Track and field enjoyed its finest moment in the United States since the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

After all, who could forget the drama of Lewis, in the twilight of a magnificent career, winning the long jump for his ninth Olympic gold medal? Who could forget O’Brien overcoming his humiliating failure at the 1992 trials and winning the decathlon gold medal?

Who could forget Gail Devers winning a record-tying second consecutive gold medal in the women’s 100 meters in another controversial finish with Jamaican Merlene Ottey? Who could forget a courageous Jackie Joyner-Kersee, competing with a painful injury, winning a bronze medal in the women’s long jump?

After hundreds of thousands of spectators had jammed Olympic Stadium for the nine days of competition and millions more watched on television, why didn’t track and field benefit from such instant popularity?

The answers are myriad.

The problems started with the failure to capitalize on the Olympic heroes. Instead of parading them around the country at the height of their popularity, treating them like national heroes as they do in many countries, the athletes were virtually ignored.

As the games disappeared among other sports--baseball was getting ready for playoffs and the NFL beginning another season--the Olympians were forgotten.

Then, when USA Track & Field met at San Francisco in December, it voted to depose Cassell, whose contract expires in March 1998.

Under its newly elected president, Patricia Rico, USATF vowed to replace Cassell as quickly as possible. But Cassell, who declined to comment, still was working as a lame duck seven months later

USATF’s executive board voted May 31 in favor of former middle-distance runner Craig Masback. There were initial stumbling blocks in the negotiations, but Masback replaced Cassell last week as the new executive director.

Meanwhile, the sport’s reputation in the country has been badly tarnished. There has been talk of a recall vote against Rico and the slate of officers elected with her in December.

Invitational meets that highlighted the indoor and outdoor seasons were dropped this year. They included events in Los Angeles, Cleveland, San Jose, Houston and New Orleans. The United States was left with only one international outdoor Grand Prix meet, the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore.

In addition, Mobil, which had sponsored the indoor Grand Prix in North America, dropped its sponsorship and the circuit fell apart. While there used to be at least a half-dozen major indoor meets in New York alone, there now are three in the entire country: the Chase Millrose Games in New York, the Mobil Invitational in Fairfax, Va., and the USA Championships in Atlanta.

Meanwhile, Johnson injured his right quadricep in losing to Donovan Bailey in a ballyhooed 150-meter showdown in Toronto June 1. Returning to competition less than four weeks later, Johnson finished a disappointing fifth in a 400-meter race.

So the apparently invincible Johnson, who had not lost at 400 meters since 1989--a string of 58 races--showed his vulnerability.

With Johnson on a two-race losing streak, Lewis and Joyner-Kersee at the end of their careers and O’Brien not having competed in a decathlon this year, the United States needs new stars.

“To rely on Carl and Michael to carry the sport, you can’t do that,” Shorter said. “It’s not fair.”

Fortunately for the sport, U.S. athletes still are performing well internationally. Americans rank among the best in the world in the sprints, hurdles, relays, jumps and throws, and probably will accumulate the most medals at next month’s World Championships in Athens, Greece.