ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, July 30, 1996 TAG: 9607300108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
The king isn't dead; long live the king.
On a breezy, humid Monday night at the Centennial Games, a baton was passed between Texans on the Olympic Stadium track.
And the 82,773 spectators didn't even see a relay.
Carl Lewis put an exclamation point on his Olympic legacy, winning his ninth gold medal in the way the track and field world has become accustomed to seeing him do it - with a clutch performance.
While Lewis was waiting between long jumps in the final round, speeding past him en route to the fastest 400 meters in Olympic history was Michael Johnson.
In gold shoes.
How symbolic that was.
Lewis, who has said he won't try to reach the Sydney Games in 2000 when he's 39, joined U.S. discus great Al Oerter as the only Olympians with golds in four consecutive Games.
Lewis jumped 27 feet, 103/4 inches, on his third leap of the finals. It was almost 9 inches better than any of the other seven finalists soared.
Jamaica's James Beckford was the silver medalist, with Joe Greene of the United States taking the bronze. World record-holder Mike Powell of the United States was fifth.
``This medal is the most special,'' Lewis said after his last Olympic moment. ``It took the most focus. It took the most pain. It took the most work.
``Two things struck me. One, I got about 1,000 calls [Monday] from people telling me, `You can do it,' from the people who have been there all along.
``Two, the incredible support in the stands. When they call your name and everyone stands up and cheers and screams, if you can't get up for that, when can you?''
It was Lewis' longest leap in almost two years, since a 28-5 on July 31, 1994.
Johnson roared to an Olympic record in the 400 meters, clinching the first half of what he hopes will become a sprinter's never-achieved Olympic double Thursday night.
Johnson's 43.49-second trip topped the Games mark set four years ago in Barcelona by countryman Quincy Watts by one-hundredth of a second.
Johnson, who is favored in the 200 for what would be a historic double, couldn't catch Butch Reynolds' 1988 world mark of 43.29. Reynolds wasn't in the 400 final after pulling a hamstring in the preliminaries.
``It feels good to finally win an individual Olympic gold medal,'' said Johnson, 28, who ran the third leg of the U.S. gold-medal 1,600 relay team in Barcelona. ``It felt really good. I don't think it's really still hit me.
`` ... As for the world record, I'm not disappointed. I'm extremely happy with my performance. It may be my only chance to win a gold medal in a 400. There will be other chances to break the world record, but maybe not a chance at a medal.''
Johnson owns the world record of 19.66 seconds in the 200, set at the U.S. Olympic Trials on the Atlanta track in June.
Johnson, from Dallas, called the 200 ``a more natural thing for me. It's a sprinter's race.''
As for his shoes, he picked gold ``because I was thinking about that. I guess I chose right.''
Lewis, a Houston resident, also has a silver from the 1988 Seoul Games. He said not making the U.S. team in the 100 and 200 allowed him to concentrate on the long jump.
He needed that.
Lewis barely qualified for the long jump finals. He was 15th entering the final jump Sunday night, then soared 27-21/2 - his best in two years until his last gold rush.
Asked about his career with Olympic retirement around the corner at a pre-jump news conference two days ago, Lewis said, ``Well, at least I'm not dead. It's hard to look back at myself as any more than who I am.''
Johnson and Lewis have become more than in-state rivals. One is ascending in the sport, while the other is exiting, albeit through the front door.
Asked during his postrace news conference about Lewis' victory, Johnson said somewhat tersely, ``That's good. I'm happy for him.''
Lewis also equaled the nine golds won by by Olympic distance-running legend Paavo Nurmi, the ``Flying Finn,'' and countryman Mark Spitz, the most-celebrated swimmer in Olympic history.
He tied Ray Ewry as the U.S. career leader in track and field medals, with 10. Ewry competed in the Games in 1900, '04, '06 and '08.
Lewis is arguably the greatest clutch performer in the history of the sport - or at least he's in a dead heat with Jesse Owens - and has been the dominant track and field athlete of the past 16 years.
He is on his fifth U.S. Olympic team - the only trackman to accomplish that - having been among the athletes denied the chance to compete at the 1980 Moscow Games by the U.S. boycott.
While his four consecutive golden Games came from 1984 through '96, Oerter's record was established from '58-68.
Lewis just had his 100-meter dash Olympic record of 9.92 seconds at the Seoul Games erased two nights earlier by Canada's Donovan Bailey, who set a world mark of 9.84.
Lewis, who began his gold-digging with four at the Los Angeles Games, has been ranked No.1 in the world six times in the 100, twice in the 200 and nine times in the long jump.
Johnson's bid to become the first man to win the 200 and 400 at the same Olympics is a double he achieved at the 1995 World Championships. He is the only sprinter to be ranked No.1 in both events in the same year.
The 200 preliminaries are Wednesday morning, with the semifinals and final Thursday.
LENGTH: Long : 109 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. 1. Michael Johnson of the United States celebratesby CNBafter winning the men's 400 meters Monday night. 2. Carl Lewis flies
toward the pit on his second attempt in the long jump final Monday
night. Lewis won the gold with a leap of 27 feet, 10 3/4 inches.
color.