Victory Laps

“The Star-Spangled Banner,” an endangered species at this Olympic track and field competition, resurfaced twice at Olympic Stadium on Monday, once as a command performance by Michael Johnson, once as an over-the-top single by Stacy Dragila.

Of course, by now, the national anthem has become Johnson’s personal soundtrack whenever he runs a 400-meter final at a major international meet. Four times, Francis Scott Key has accompanied Johnson to the 400-meter medal ceremony at world championships and now, they have performed a duet twice at the Olympic Games.

Running conservatively on a cold night not conducive to world-record challenges, Johnson became to first man to win 400-meter gold medals in consecutive Olympics, repeating his 1996 triumph with a winning sprint of 43.85 seconds.

Minutes later, Dragila cleared 15 feet 1 inch to win the first gold medal in the women’s pole vault, an event making its Olympic debut in Sydney.

They were predictable victories, results lifted straight off the dope sheet, as was Australian Cathy Freeman’s crowd-pleasing run to the women’s 400-meter championship in 49.11 seconds.

Other than that, it was a long night of slow American runs, short American throws and Yankee triple jumps that more closely resembled bloop singles.

Michael was the only Johnson to repeat Olympic gold, as 1996 110-meter hurdles champion Allen Johnson chugged in at 13.23 seconds, finishing fourth behind surprise winner Anier Garcia of Cuba (13.00) and U.S. teammates Terrence Trammell (13.16) and Mark Crear (13.22).

Anthony Washington, the 1999 world discus champion, finished last in Monday’s Olympic final, managing only one legal throw that measured 196 feet 5 1/2 inches. American teammate Adam Setliff placed fifth at 216-7, well behind Virgilijus Alekna’s gold-medal throw of 227-4 for Lithuania.

Hazel Clark and Robert Howard finished seventh, respectively, in the women’s 800 and men’s triple jump--events won by Mozambique’s Maria Mutola (1:56.15) and Britain’s Jonathan Edwards (58-1 1/4).

No American had qualified for the women’s 5,000 final, won by Romania’s Gabriela Szabo in an Olympic-record time of 14:40.79. And in a stirring men’s 10,000 final, won by Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie (27:18.20) as he outsprinted Kenya’s Paul Tergat (27:18.29) to the finish, Americans Abdirahman and Mebrahtom Keflezighi placed 10th and 12th.

With the Olympic track competition at the halfway point, the United States is sitting with four gold medals--well off its pace in Atlanta in 1996, when American track and field athletes totaled 13 golds.

Clearly, USA Track and Field Chief Executive Craig Masback has enjoyed better days. Masback missed the first hour of the women’s pole vault final; he was detained downstairs, fielding questions from the media about U.S. shotputter C.J. Hunter testing positive for nandrolone.

After the inquisition, Masback sighed and said, “What I’m really concerned with is the U.S. team. We’re not doing very well.”

Fortunately for Masback, Johnson was running later in the evening. Michael Johnson in the 400: Dial-A-Gold Medal.

Johnson, who had talked in previous weeks of lowering his 400-meter world record--43.18 seconds--in Sydney, stared into the wind whipping through Olympic Stadium, looked up at the rain clouds congregating overhead and readjusted his sights.

“Today’s race was more conservative than I might have run if maybe the weather was a little better, if I thought I could have broken the world record,” Johnson said.

“But I couldn’t take chances with the way Alvin [Harrison] was running. And training with Gregory [Haughton of Jamaica], I knew he was running well. I can’t take chances, running against guys like that.’

So Johnson blew out of the blocks, asserting himself early, building a five-meter lead by the 150-meter mark and then brought it in at 43.84, well off his best time of the year, 43.68, set at the U.S. Olympic trials in July, and his Olympic mark of 43.49 at Atlanta.

Harrison was second at 44.40 and Haughton took third at 44.70.

Johnson said he drafted energy off Freeman, who had electrified the crowd of 112,524 with her 400-meter triumph in the previous race.

“There was a lot of energy in the stadium after Cathy ran,” Johnson said. “I was fortunate to run right after her, with the stadium really buzzing. It made our race much better.”

Freeman walked onto the track for the women’s 400 final looking like an Australian comic-book hero, clad head-to-ankle in a green, gold and silver hooded body suit that lacked only mask and cape. The race wasn’t a breeze, as she had to pull away from silver medalist Lorraine Graham of Jamaica in the last 50 meters. Freeman’s time was less than superhuman, tying her for 10th on the all-time Olympic leaders list, but it was the fastest time of the year and, as with Johnson, it got the job done.

“I was fairly nervous before the race,” Freeman said. “There was this little voice in my head saying, ‘Do what I know, do what I know.’ Sure, there are some things I’d like to have changed, but I won and I’m happy.”

Freeman’s victory was historic on several levels. Her gold medal, the 100th overall won by Australia at the Summer Olympics, was the first by an athlete of Aboriginal descent in an individual event.

No visual aid was necessary, but Freeman provided one anyway. For her victory lap, she carried the Australian and Aboriginal flags, tied together, two diverse cultures symbolically united for 400 meters.

“I was thinking a lot about my Aboriginal heritage while I was out there,” Freeman said. “Absolutely. It was a really big thrill to see my family so happy, with big smiles and a few tears . . .

“I’m sure what I symbolized will make a difference. I hope it will change attitudes, on the street and in the political arena. I know I made a lot of people who call Australia home happy. I know I’m happy.”

Dragila also broke new ground--or, rather, flew over it--by winning the first Olympic women’s pole vault competition.

The world-record holder in the event, Dragila, 29, had to fend off both Australian Tatiana Grigorieva and the fervent pro-Aussie crowd, which roared for each of Grigorieva’s final runs at the bar.

“It was piercing,” Dragila said of the crowd noise. “It was amazing. I was just hoping I’d get a couple claps coming down the runway.”

The Russian-born Grigorieva has been described as track and field’s answer to Anna Kournikova, only with better-looking won-lost numbers. Grigorieva actually has won a few things in her sport, notably a bronze medal at the 1999 world championships.

When the final field narrowed to two competitors at 14-11, Grigorieva briefly moved into the lead, based on fewer misses.

The bar was then raised to 15-1, which Dragila cleared on her first try. Grigorieva missed her first attempt at 15-1, then gambled by passing at that height and waiting for the bar to be moved to world-record height, 15-3.

Grigorieva gave the crowd a big thumbs-up and went for it twice. Neither time did she come close.

“I had nothing to lose,” she said.

When Grigorieva went out, the gold automatically went to Dragila. Dragila took three cracks at 15-3, came close on her first try, but grazed the bar with her stomach on the way down, just enough to shake the bar loose.

“I’m a bit disappointed for the world record,” Dragila said. “But there will be more.”

Vala Flosadottir of Iceland took the bronze with a mark of 14-9--the first medal for a woman from Iceland. Two Icelandic men had previously won medals--a bronze in judo in 1984, silver in triple jump in 1956.

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In Monday’s other finals:

MEN’S 10,000 METERS: Gebrselassie is the world- and Olympic-record holder at 10,000 meters, a legend in the event, so Kenya’s three-man tag team of Tergat, Patrick Ivuti and John Korir figured the best strategy was to consolidate forces against the 1996 Olympic champion.

Running as a team, with Korir setting the pace with four laps to go, the Kenyans pushed Gebrselassie to the brink, setting up a final sprint between Tergat and Gebrselassie.

Covering the last 200 meters in 26.0 seconds, Gebrselassie ran down and passed Tergat in the final 30, winning the gold with a season-best time of 27.18.20.

WOMEN’S 5,000 METERS: Szabo held off a strong challenge by Ireland’s Sonia O’Sullivan, who ran a national-record 14:41.02 for the silver medal, Ireland’s first Olympic track medal. Gete Wami of Ethiopia was third at 14:42.23.

Rather unemotional after she crossed the finish line, Szabo said, “I didn’t have emotions because it has taken 11 months [of hard training], and it would be impossible to do badly.”

MEN’S 110-METER HURDLES: Garcia outpaced a loaded field that included world-record holder Colin Jackson of Britain, Olympic record-holder Johnson and 1996 Olympic silver medalist Crear.

“I knew about halfway through the race that I had won,” said Garcia, 1999 world silver medalist. “I was really prepared to win this medal.”

Jackson finished fifth in his final bid to win an Olympic gold medal.

“It’s difficult to accept, but you learn to accept it,” Jackson said. “This is athletics. You have to just accept it and go on with the business.”

WOMEN’S 800 METERS: Mutola became the first athlete from Mozambique to win an Olympic gold medal, previously having won a bronze in Atlanta. She won the gold on a national holiday in Mozambique, Revolution Day.

“To be the first one to win a gold medal is something very special,” she said. “We have a lot to celebrate tonight, even though it’s morning over there. We have the whole day to celebrate.”

Mozambique, one of the poorest nations in the world, was ravaged by floods earlier this year. Margo Jennings, Mutola’s American coach, said the gold medal would provide much emotional relief for the beleaguered country.

“After what they have gone through,” Jennings said, “all of us would love to be in Mozambique right now, because it is going to be such an emotional celebration.”

MEN’S DISCUS: World leader Alekna clinched the gold medal with his fifth throw, a mark of 227-4.

The victory capped an eventful 2000 for Alekna, who also got married and became a father this year.

“This year, there is many big events,” Alekna said. “That’s enough now.”

Germany’s Lars Riedel, the 1996 gold medalist, placed second with a throw of 224-9. South Africa’s Frantz Kruger was third at 223-8 1/2.

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Staff writers Lisa Dillman and Alan Abrahamson contributed to this story.