8802110466
DETROIT FREE PRESS
880923
Friday, September 23, 1988
METRO EDITION
1E
Photo United Press International
MITCH ALBOM
Copyright (c) 1988, Detroit Free Press
WORLD'S FASTEST HUMAN?
LEWIS SCENARIO: GOLD . . . AND GOLDEN SILENCE
SEOUL, South Korea -- We now come to the burning question: Can Carl Lewis
be repackaged? The Summer Olympics are in full stride once again, and look,
there he is, sitting on top of those five rings, his long legs crossed in
slender elegance.
"Hi," he seems to say. "Remember me?"
And that is his problem. We do. Of course, it is hard to forget a man who
once wore, in no particular order, orange tights, lip gloss, lizard skin
boots and white, horn-rimmed sunglasses; a man who said things like "failure
doesn't loom in me;" a man who maintains that, were he not the world's
greatest athlete, he would be perhaps the world's greatest singer, or the
world's greatest businessman, or the world's greatest collector of Waterford
crystal, but alas, his particular burden is to be so blessed and so gifted
that he won four gold medals in the 1984 Olympics, and everyone treated him as
if he had bad breath.
"Old news," says Carl. "Things are different this time around." Or so he
says. As the song goes, he has a new attitude -- and he has a 100 meter-final
tonight, the first of the same four events he tried in Los Angeles. But mostly
what he has, for once, if you ask me, is an opponent -- a man seemingly sent
by the Greek Gods of Public Relations, who decreed that all ups and no downs
make Carl Lewis a boring dork.
Ben Johnson.
It is Johnson, not Lewis, who now owns the world record of 9.83 seconds.
It is Johnson who has won six of their last eight meetings. And it is Johnson,
a shy yet brooding Canadian cannonball, who says he will win here in Seoul.
"We'll see," says Lewis. But lo and behold, America, could that be, on
that famous upper lip, the one that has quivered through acting lessons, a pop
record, and never a single apology, a lonely bead of . . . sweat?
Somebody pat that with makeup, will ya?
And then ignore it. If there is an ounce of worry in Carl Lewis, 27, no
one has ever seen it. He will win tonight, I'm telling you that right now,
because you can be big in track and field without the title "World's Fastest
Human," but you can never be The Biggest. And that, as anyone who knows him
will tell you, is something Carl Lewis considers his birthright. You could
sooner steal his eyelashes.
"I don't need Ben," he said, when asked whether the rivalry would help peak
interest, and in this case he is right: There are certain moments you just
feel that certain athletes will never surrender -- Sonny Liston for Cassius
Clay, the 1936 Olympics for Jesse Owens -- and I believe tonight's 10-second
dash for Lewis is another.
Although it might do the man good to have his floor waxed, athletically
speaking. A little Olympic humility please? The real kind. Not the stuff he's
putting out these days with his sudden "accessibility" to the media.
"I get a lot of attention," Lewis said in a massive press conference
Wednesday, dressed in striped white pants and a black tank top. "People here
come out just to watch me shop. It's amazing. They stand outside the door and
watch me through the window, then they watch me get into my car and they watch
me leave.
"But I try not to get caught up in that aura. You can start to think you're
bigger than life. But I'm not. I'm just Carl Lewis."
Of course, he said this while flanked by his agent, his press liaison, 20
security guards and at least 800 reporters.
Oh, Carl. You nut.
Personally, and don't take this the wrong way, I think it is time for Carl
Lewis to shut up. For his own good. After all, the defending Olympic champion
in the 100 meters, 200 meters and the long jump already has tried every
possible form of conversation, from cocky to cool to humorous to dull (which
is his latest phase, avoiding controversy by answering the simplest of
questions with a five-minute avalanche of "tremendous" and "outstanding," and
which really boils down to: "I'm not going to answer that question.")
And where has it gotten him?
REPORTER: Carl, how much money did you make last year?
CARL: The reason I'm competing isn't about the money; it's that people feel
good when they watch me compete, they scream, they yell, they can't believe
it. Everyone made a big deal of the money Ben and I made racing in Zurich.
But the president of my fan club read me a letter from a little boy who said
he watched the race on TV and was so happy that I won he jumped up and down
for 30 minutes. And if I can say to a kid like that don't take drugs and
don't drink and drive, that's where the emphasis is.
REPORTER: Carl, how much money did you make last year?
You see how it goes. In the comedy film "Ghostbusters," there is a scene
where Bill Murray tries to lure a matronly ghost into conversation. ("Hello?
Miss? Where are you from . . . originally?") The spectre whirls, lets out an
evil hiss, and Murray slinks back to his colleagues and mumbles: "OK. The
usual stuff isn't working."
The usual stuff isn't working for Lewis. And neither is the new stuff.
Blame us, Carl. Blame the media. Maybe we have just seen too many of your
poses, too many makeup kits, too many speeches about "the love of the sport"
while your agent negotiated $250,000 for a single race. But hey. Forget us.
You, Carl, have a crack at history here. No one has ever won two consecutive
Olympic medals in any of your three solo events. This is big.
Which is why I recommend total silence. Can you imagine if Lewis never
said anything? Just ran his races and made his jumps and smiled and was
occasionally photographed handing a flag to a little kid. The man would be
huge. Mega-star. He already has that status in Asia and Europe, where they
love him, they mob him, they want to touch his magnificent long- limbed body,
and I maintain the reason they do and America doesn't is simple: They don't
understand a word he says.
"What the American public doesn't realize . . . " he begins when asked why
he didn't go for the those last four long jumps in 1984.
"What the American public doesn't see . . . " he begins when asked why he
lacks a single major endorsement deal in the U.S.
"What the American public doesn't understand . . . " he begins when asked
why so many of his track peers find him intolerable.
Hey. What Carl Lewis doesn't understand about the American public is that
it doesn't like to be told how to adopt its heroes. It doesn't want
instructions. Janet Evans. Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Jeff Blatnick. America wants
. . . sincerity.
You can't manufacture this. Although Lewis is trying. He has purposefully
made himself more accessible these Olympics. He has toned down the clothes and
makeup, at least during press conferences. He even brought his mother on
stage with him Wednesday before the world's microphones ("She's been a
tremendous influence . . . through thick and thin . . . ")
Which is nice, although most athletes have handled the media here without
parental guidance. But love of family has never been questioned about Lewis.
Nor has loyalty to staff (including agent Joe Douglas, who once said his
client would be "bigger than Michael Jackson" and, remarkably, still has his
job). But this has always been true about Carl Lewis: He is fascinated with
anything and anybody concerning himself. And because he believes he can be
whatever he chooses, this latest dive into "humility"' is really just Lewis
crawling to a different face of his mountain and admiring the view.
Years ago, Lewis invented a game with a track buddy in which the friend, at
any given moment, would yell "Camera!" -- and Lewis would freeze and smile for
make-believe flashbulbs.
We're talking serious preparation here.
And tonight, he runs. All that counts is speed, which, for Lewis, comes in
the middle and end of the 100, and, for Johnson, comes right out of the
blocks. TV, radio, magazines and newspapers will be focused on that finish
line. Ten seconds; winner take the world.
"I don't see this as me versus Ben," Lewis said. "I'm just focusing on my
best race."
"What would winning the gold medal mean?"
"Well, it would be a tremendous accomplishment because one thing I've
always been able to do in my life is persevere. I've had some hard times in
track and field, but I've persevered. I was told you can't be a sprinter and
a jumper, but I persevered. I've had some difficult moments with the media,
but I've persevered."
And here we are. Tonight begins the four-gold 1988 odyssey. Will it work?
Can Carl Lewis be repackaged? Can he emerge from these Olympics gilded and
forgiven, like a road-weary car that comes gleaming bright out of the car
wash?
That, as the politicians say, is in the hands of the voters. He's going to
win tonight, at least I hope he does, because he has put his time into his
sport and he is a magnificent athlete and Ben Johnson is not a particularly
nice guy, either, and besides, track and field history would enjoy it.
But track and field will always adore this creature. I figure the best
chance for Carl Lewis to be finally loved by the rest of America is to streak
across that finish line tonight, shatter the world record, fall in tears to
the track as the network sticks a microphone in front of his face . . .
And develop laryngitis.
LEWIS VS. JOHNSON
The head-to-head races between Carl Lewis of the United States and Ben
Johnson of Canada in the 100-meter dash. Lewis leads, 9-6.
* APRIL 29, 1980: At Sudbury, Ontario: Lewis, 1st, 10.43 seconds; Johnson,
6th, 10.88.
* AUG. 20, 1982: At Berlin: Lewis, 1st, 10.08; Johnson, 8th, 10.61.
* AUG. 22, 1982: At Cologne, West Germany: heat, Lewis, 1st, 10.47; Johnson,
4th, 10.55.
* AUG. 4, 1984: At Los Angeles (Olympics): Lewis, 1st, 9.99; Johnson, 3d,
10.22.
* AUG. 20, 1984: At Budapest, Hungary: Lewis, 1st, 10.55; Johnson, 4th, 10.33.
* AUG. 22, 1984: At Zurich, Switzerland: Lewis, 1st, 9.99; Johnson, 3d,
10.12.
* MAY 11, 1985: At Modesto, Calif.: Lewis, 1st, 9.98; Johnson, 4th, 10.16.
* AUG. 21, 1985: At Zurich: Johnson, 1st, 10.18; Lewis, 4th, 10.31.
* AUG. 25, 1985: At Cologne: Lewis, 2d, 10.27; Johnson, 3d, 10.29. Marion
Woronin of Poland won in 10.09.
* MAY 31, 1986: At San Jose, Calif.: Johnson, 1st, 10.01; Lewis, 2d, 10.18.
* JULY 9, 1986: At Moscow: Johnson, 1st, 9.95; Lewis, 3d, 10.06.
* AUG. 13, 1986: At Zurich: Johnson, 1st, 10.03; Lewis, 3d, 10.25.
* MAY 28, 1987: At Sevilla, Spain: Johnson, 1st, 10.06; Lewis, 2d, 10.07.
* AUG. 31, 1987: At Rome (world championships): Johnson, 1st, 9.83; Lewis,
2d, 9.93.
* AUG. 17, 1988: At Zurich: Lewis, 1st, 9.93; Johnson, 3d, 10.00.
CUTLINE:
Carl Lewis, with those cool shades and a belt bag sporting his signature,
looks around Seoul's Olympic Stadium Wednesday.
OLYMPICS;CARL LEWIS