ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607300051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: From Associated Press and staff reports
A PULLED HAMSTRING is too great a hurdle to overcome as Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the two-time defending champ, withdraws from the heptathlon.
There was a telltale hitch at the final hurdle, a bit of a grimace as Jackie Joyner-Kersee cleared it. Then the greatest female athlete of her time was out of the Olympic heptathlon.
In what might have been her farewell appearance, the two-time defending Olympic champion was running through a downpour early Saturday morning, her right thigh heavily taped. She won her heat of the 100-meter hurdles, the first event of the heptathlon, in 13.24 seconds.
But she didn't look comfortable running and seemed to miss a stride approaching the last hurdle.
The next event was the high jump. Joyner-Kersee and the others headed for that area of the track, but she was walking gingerly, favoring the hamstring she injured in June while long-jumping at the U.S. Olympic trials.
Suddenly, accompanied by her coach and husband, Bob Kersee, she headed off the track, through the maze of gates and out of the stadium.
``I said, `Listen here. I'm going to pull you,''' Bob Kersee said. ``She said, `Bobby, no. Don't pull me.' Her husband stood up and said, `That's enough. It's time for me to pull you. I'm no longer going to allow you to do this. This isn't a coach-and-athlete thing. This is your husband talking. It's time for you to go.'''
The two sat on the track, wiping away tears. Joyner-Kersee's chief rival for the gold medal, Syria's Ghada Shouaa, walked over and kissed both her cheeks.
``The coach was weaker and the husband was stronger,'' Bob Kersee said. ``I love the heptathlon, but this time it had to be her husband's call. She had put herself through enough pain, agony and torture in training. I was amazed at what she put herself through to prepare and that's why she's so disappointed.
``It's not a pulled hamstring. In 1991, Jackie pulled her hamstring during the world championships. She's had some scar tissue in that hamstring ever since. Unfortunately, the scar tissue is right near the outside muscle of the hamstring and close to the tendon. So there's not too much room if the muscle spasms, because it grabs the tendon and aggravates the whole chain.''
It was not immediately clear whether Joyner-Kersee, 34, would compete in her other specialty, the long jump, which begins Thursday. Bob Kersee said the athlete - not the coach-husband - would make that decision.
``In terms of the multi-events, she's proven enough,'' he said. ``I don't know if she will be out there with two legs and a cane, but we expect her to compete in the long jump. The long jump is her baby.''
The women's 400 heats were under way when announcer Bob Hersh informed the crowd: ``Jackie Joyner-Kersee has withdrawn from the heptathlon because of an injury.''
``I was in the blocks when I heard it,'' said Jearl Miles, a U.S. 400 runner. ``I was shocked and surprised. The Games won't be the same without her.
``I don't want to call her the grandmother of track and field, but for as long as I can remember I knew of Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She's someone to look up to and I'm sorry she can't compete here.''
``Don't tell me that,'' said Grace-Ann Dinkins, a 400 runner from Liberia, when she heard about Joyner-Kersee. ``I think that's horrible. She's my hero.''
``It saddens me to know she's not really healthy,'' said Sharon Hanson, Joyner-Kersee's heptathlon teammate. ``It's sad to see the best performer in the world out of the heptathlon, especially for the United States.''
Joyner-Kersee still holds the long-jump world record of 24 feet 7 inches, as well as the heptathlon world record of 7,291 points and the next five best heptathlon scores of all time. Coming into her fourth Olympics, she had won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze, as well as four golds from world championships.
But Joyner-Kersee had promised this would be her last Olympics. The only reason she chose to compete was because the Games were in the United States, and she was beaten in the heptathlon trials by Kelly Blair - her first loss to an American in 13 years.
Throughout, she was driven by her husband-coach. Bob Kersee never was more critical of her than during the trials, when he derided her effort, especially in the javelin.
On Saturday, though, he led her off tenderly. There was nothing left to drive.
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Joyner-Kersee (headshot) color.by CNBAP 2. Jackie Joyner-Kersee grimaces after clearing the last hurdle
in the 100-meter race Saturday during the heptathlon in Atlanta.|