Trials Leave U.S. in Medal Pinch

Can we have a do-over?

The U.S. Olympic track and field trials and tribulations are finished, and not a split-second on the electronic timing system too soon. It might have been a nice meet for Marion Jones, who won each of the three events in which she was entered, and Stacy Dragila, who improved her own women’s pole vault world record, but for USA Track and Field, it was eight sweltering days of brutal attrition, with nearly one Olympic medal contender a day dropping off the roster.

Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene, the world-record holder and the defending world champion at 200 meters--gone, KOed by a couple of cramped hamstrings that left Sunday’s overheated final looking like a blown-tire wreck at Indy.

Dan O’Brien, 1996 Olympic decathlon champion--unable to compete at the trials, sidelined by a foot injury.

Jeff Hartwig, American record holder and 2000 world leader in the pole vault--eliminated during qualifying.

John Godina, two-time world champion in the men’s shot put--left behind after placing fourth in the final.

Tisha Waller, America’s premier female high jumper, ranked as high as No. 2 in the world in 1998--ousted in a jump-off for third place by Amy Acuff.

Matt Hemingway, with a 2000 indoor best of 7 feet 9 3/4 inches in the men’s high jump--a distant 10th at the trials, having cleared only 7-1 1/2 in the final.

Suffice it to say, Team USA’s Olympic medal hopes appeared much healthier before the trials than what we saw limping out of them.

A look at the top survivors in the major events and their Olympic possibilities:

(Athletes listed in parentheses have yet to achieve the Olympic “A” standard in their respective event and must do so before Sept. 11 if they are to compete in Sydney.)

MEN

100 METERS: If he’s fit, Greene, the world-record holder, will be the favorite in Sydney--although if he stumbles out of the blocks like he did at the trials, training partner Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago could beat him to the top step of the medals podium. Jon Drummond already has been seeded onto the Sydney Olympics all-interview team. Curtis Johnson will do well to reach the semifinals.

200 METERS: Goodbye Michael, goodbye Maurice, goodbye gold and silver medals. And hello Ato--with the cramping of two powerful hamstrings Sunday, Boldon, the 1997 world champion, suddenly became the odds-on Olympic favorite. John Capel’s trials-winning time of 19.85 second is faster than Greene’s 1999 world championship time of 19.90, but Capel is a rookie when it comes to major meets at the international stage.

400 METERS: Johnson says he is now focusing on lowering his world record in the 400 beneath 43 seconds because “that’s all I’ve got left.” Antonio Pettigrew, the 1991 world champion, is 0 for 3 in qualifying for Olympic finals, staring at his last chance to break through.

800 METERS: No Olympic medals, it would seem, from this plodding lot. Mark Everett’s winning time Sunday--1 minute 45.67 seconds--was the slowest at the U.S. trials since 1968. Johnny Gray retired 2 1/2 races too early.

1,500 METERS: The 1,500 is the personal dominion of Moroccan middle-distance legend Hicham El Guerrouj; Americans Gabe Jennings and Jason Pyrah are just passing through.

3,000-METER STEEPLECHASE: No need getting nasty about the no-hope Americans, let’s just turn it over to U.S. trials champion Pascal Dobert:”Steeplechasing around the world is basically divided into two groups: The Kenyans and everybody else. And we’re not really gaining ground on the Kenyans because they’re so far ahead of everybody else.”

5,000 METERS: With or without the presence of Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie, who may decide to concentrate solely on the 10K, the best the U.S. can hope for here is a spot in the final.

10,000 METERS: It will be Gebrselassie, followed by a fleet of Africans. Mebrahtom Keflezighi hails from the same continent--he was born in Eritrea--but he is well off the pace of the first echelon. He won the U.S. trials with a time of 28 minutes 3.32 seconds--45 seconds slower than the 2000 world best.

110-METER HURDLES: Mark Crear, ranked No. 1 or 2 in the world every year since 1995, and Allen Johnson, the 1996 Olympic champion, could finish 1-2 in Sydney. Great Britain’s Colin Jackson, No. 2 in the world in 1999, has been less than impressive so far in 2000.

400-METER HURDLES: Another U.S. medal, maybe two. Angelo Taylor was ranked No. 2 in the world in 1999, Eric Thomas is the 2000 world leader with a time of 47.94 seconds.

HIGH JUMP: Javier Sotomayor’s drug suspension opens a spot on the Sydney medals podium. Charles Austin, the 1996 Olympic champion who jumped 7 feet 7 1/4 inches to win the U.S. trials, probably needs another inch to ensure a medal.

POLE VAULT: Hartwig’s failure at the trials knocked the 2000 world leader out of the Games, but Lawrence Johnson owns the year’s second-best mark in the world--19 feet 4 1/4 inches. The 1997 world champion, Johnson was the only man to clear 19 feet at the trials.

LONG JUMP: Where have you gone, Carl Lewis, Mike Powell, Bob Beamon, Ralph Boston, Jesse Owens and Larry Myricks? In the U.S., the long jump isn’t so long anymore, with Melvin Lister’s trials-winning leap of 27 feet 3 3/4 inches being the shortest since 1980. How bad is the current state of the sport? An Owens jump of 26-8 1/4 in 1935--65 years ago!--would have taken third place at this year’s trials.

TRIPLE JUMP: Robert Howard’s crazed post-long jump rant, claiming he was robbed of an Olympic berth by a judge’s mismark, easily was the highlight of the men’s long jump competition at the trials. “If I don’t make the Olympic team, I have to go to med school!” Howard raged. Then, Sunday, Howard went out and jumped 55 feet 9 inches in the triple jump final. Good news: Med school can wait. Bad news: With that distance, so can any medals in Sydney.

SHOT PUT: After the top three finishers all posted personal bests at the trials, America’s shot-putting elite were talking sweep in Sydney. Well, OK, not C.J. Hunter. “When I get to Sydney, all I’m thinking about is me,” grunted Hunter, typically effervescent. “It could happen. I don’t know. So what?” Still, even Hunter had to admit, three throwers going over 70 feet in Sacramento was something. “These performances,” Hunter said, “scare the hell out of everybody in Europe, that’s for sure.”

DISCUS: Anthony Washington, the 1999 world champion, slumped to third at the trials with a best effort of 219 feet 7 inches--well off the 2000 world best of Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna (230-11).

HAMMER: Finally, after eight national outdoor titles and a 1996 Olympic silver medal, Lance Deal is going to put the hammer down after the Sydney Olympics. Another medal as a retirement gift might be pushing it--Deal’s 2000 best (262 feet 11 inches) is more than seven inches shy of the world lead.

JAVELIN: Breaux Greer has the Olympic “B” standard, but not the “A.” Tomas Pukstys has the “A” standard, but he finished behind Greer at the trials. Unless Greer gets the “A” standard by Sept. 11, Pukstys, the U.S. record holder, is staying home.

DECATHLON: Chris Huffins had food poisoning at the trials, which might help explain his second-place finish and so-so 8,285 point total. He’ll need to do considerably better if he is to repeat his third-place performance at the 1999 world championships.

WOMEN

100 METERS: Jones and Inger Miller should duplicate their 1-2 finish at the 1999 world championships. Chryste Gaines, an upset third-place qualifier ahead of two-time Olympic champion Gail Devers, should make the final.

200 METERS: Sad song for Miller: “Me and Mrs. Jones, we’ve got a thing going on and I’m 0-9 in our last nine head-to-heads.”

400 METERS: The 2000 U.S. leader won’t be competing in this event in Sydney. That would be Jones, who ran a lap at the Mt. SAC Relays in April in 49.59 seconds--the fastest time in the world until Australia’s Cathy Freeman ran 49.56 three weeks ago. Latasha Colander-Richardson was the only woman to break 50 seconds (49.87) at the U.S. trials.

800 METERS: It’s a made-for-NBC, all-in-the-family affair: Hazel Clark and Joetta Clark-Diggs are the sisters, Jearl Miles-Clark is the sister-in-law--married to J.J. Clark, who happens to coach all three of them. Great sitcom possibilities, but medal potential? Miles-Clark, who set the U.S. record last August, could break through.

1,500 METERS: If Regina Jacobs only runs one race in the Olympics, this will be it. She says she has “unfinished business in the 1,500”--namely chasing down Romania’s Gabriela Szabo and Russia’s Svetlana Masterkova, as well as Mary Slaney’s American record. Suzy Favor Hamilton, her longtime U.S. rival, has yet to prove she can grind through the rounds at a major competition.

5,000 METERS: When U.S. women’s track coach Karen Dennis approached Jacobs about doubling in Sydney, Jacobs replied, “I have to go to the bathroom.” Jacobs broke her own American record by more than seven seconds while winning the trials, but if she concentrates on the 1,500, the U.S. is looking at 0-for-the-5,000 in Sydney.

10,000 METERS: Deena Drossin’s trials-winning time of 31:51.05 is more than 40 seconds off the world best.

100-METER HURDLES: At 33, Devers figures to add a hurdles gold medal to her ’92 and ’96 Olympic 100-meter championships. Her trials-winning time of 12.33 seconds is the fastest in the world this year--and .12 seconds off the world record.

400-METER HURDLES: Sandra Glover entered the trials as the world leader, then proceeded to lower the American record to 53.33 seconds. Kim Batten, the 1995 world champion, could challenge for a bronze.

HIGH JUMP: Waller was the best American hope for a medal--and she went out in the third-place trials jump-off with Amy Acuff. Acuff, however, leads all women high jumpers in Esquire magazine cover appearances.

POLE VAULT: Dragila broke her world record at the trials, raising the bar to 15-2 1/2. Australia’s Emma George awaits her at the Olympics--and regardless of the outcome, Dragila predicts the winner better be ready to clear 16 feet.

LONG JUMP: This is where Jones’ bid for five gold medals could take a flying leap. Jones placed third at last year’s world championships and a repeat would be no surprise--actually, it would be something of a feat--considering the consistency of Italy’s Fiona May, the big-meet reputation of Germany’s Heike Drechsler and the deep threat posed by Spain’s Niurka Montalvo.

TRIPLE JUMP: No American female triple jumper has the Olympic “A” standard, and Nicole Gamble, the U.S. champion, barely has the “B” standard. Unless Sheila Hudson and Tiombe Hurd reach the “A” standard by Sept. 11, Gamble is going to Sydney alone, far from the crowd on the medals stand.

SHOT PUT: Connie Price-Smith has dominated this event in the U.S. for more than a decade, but at the world level, she’s no better than a top five or six hopeful.

DISCUS: Seilala Sua is the first American woman to achieve a top 10 world ranking since Olga Connolly in 1968. The four-time NCAA champion from UCLA is No. 6 now, saying she’s gunning for No. 1 in Sydney, but most likely will settle for No. 3 or 4 at the Summer Games.

HAMMER: Dawn Ellerbe’s trials-winning throw of 227 feet 0 inches is more than 22 feet off the world record, set last year by Romania’s Mihaela Melinte.

JAVELIN: No American woman has reached the Olympic “A” standard of 196 feet 10 inches, let alone approached the 2000 world lead of 223-10, owned by Norway’s Trine Solberg-Hattestad.

HEPTATHLON: With Jackie Joyner-Kersee in retirement, the U.S. medal cupboard look bare. DeDee Nathan, No. 5 in the world in 1999, won the trials with 6,342 points. France’s Eunice Barber won the 1999 world title with 6,861 points.