CARL LEWIS` JUMP SPONSORED BY . . . (original) (raw)

Carl Lewis, track and field athlete of the late 20th Century, showed the way toward the 21st Century Friday in what probably was one of the most bizarre press conferences in Olympic history.

There will come a day, Lewis said, when Olympic athletes will compete not under the flags of their countries but under the labels of their sponsors.

Lewis appeared outside Olympic property under the auspices of Mizuno, a Japanese manufacturer of sporting goods and sponsor of the Santa Monica Track Club, which qualified three U.S. sprinters plus Lewis for these games.

At the press conference, Lewis passed around a new shoe he will use in the long jump, the only event in which he qualified for this, his third and probably last, Olympics.

Had he held his traditional press conference in the main press center or in the Olympic Village, Lewis could not have advertised his wares, not that the International Olympic Committee and the U.S. Olympic Committee are amateurs.

Reebok manufactures the apparel for the U.S. team, so the swimmers appeared Thursday in Reebok outfits. Michael Jordan, sponsored by Nike, has threatened not to wear anything Reebok makes when he accepts his gold medal.

Had Tommie Smith and John Carlos only thought to procure sponsors of those black gloves they defiantly raised in the Games of 1968, they might have retired rich as well as merely famous.

Lewis` picture is plastered all over Barcelona on Panasonic billboards. He always has been a bigger star outside his own country, and Friday was no exception. Mizuno stuffed the press conference into a tiny room without air conditioning and passed out fans to keep unconditioned reporters from passing out.

As Masato Mizuno held up the new Polyamide-Elastomer shoe weighing 143 grams and began a five-minute sales pitch, some reporters shouted:

”What about the press conference?”

”Get rid of the shoe!”

”Who cares?”

Lewis and his personal coach, Tom Tellez, elaborated on the ”sinus infection” that weakened Lewis at the U.S. Olympic trials in June but was not detected when Lewis failed to qualify for either the 100- or 200-meter dashes. ”Once the blood tests came in, the doctors said it was unbelievable he could compete,” Tellez said. ”His thyroid was enlarged. He had excess bile in his liver, and his muscles had started to atrophy.”

In Sestriere, Italy, on Tuesday, Lewis won the 100 in a swift 9.98 seconds, proving it was more than age slowing his 31-year-old body at the U.S. trials.

Although Lewis` sixth-place finish at the trials made him eligible to run in the 4 x 100 relay, he said at the time he had no desire to unseat the first four placers, Dennis Mitchell, Mark Witherspoon, Leroy Burrell and Mike Marsh. That foursome scratched from the meet in Sestriere amid rumors of dissension about practice schedules. Mitchell is the only non-Santa Monica runner in the bunch.

Controversy and jealousy always accompany U.S. relay teams, and now Lewis says he is ready and willing to replace anyone. Coach Mel Rosen said Thursday the top four will run the final unless there is an injury.

Lewis said he was ”thankful and happy” to have made the team and bristled when someone asked if weren`t hogging attention when others were competing in more than one event.

”I`ve paid my dues to be able to enjoy myself and have people pay attention and listen to what I have to say. The attention I get I`ve earned, but it`s also getting other athletes more attention as well,” Lewis said.

The event did little to change the image of an athlete who is adored abroad and misunderstood at home.

”People in the U.S. don`t see Carl Lewis as from this generation,”

Tellez said. ”They see Jesse Owens. They want Carl to be like Jesse Owens. He`s more sophisticated. He`s different. At first, I didn`t know where Carl was coming from. I do now. His vision is way ahead of mine.

”The things he`s done in track and field that he was criticized for, now everybody does. He was not afraid to admit he made money. Now people are making money. It`s helped the sport. Track and field has gone in what he perceived to be the direction it should go. If you`re a good athlete, you should be able to make a living like football players or basketball players. You go into any town in America and the younger kids know Carl Lewis.”

With the press conference over, reporters left behind the fans

”presented by Omron.” They walked down an ancient marketplace past signs and cafes with umbrellas reading ”M&M`s,” ”Mar`s,” ”Uncle Ben`s,”

”Fuji,” ”Nikon,” and ”Coca-Cola.”

Nike is advertising a joint press conference with Michael Jordan and pole vaulter Sergei Bubka on Saturday. Bubka is Ukrainian and represents the Unified Team, formerly the Soviet Union. But he is unquestionably a citizen of Nike.

Originally Published: July 25, 1992 at 1:00 AM CST