Canadian Sprinters Run 1-2 Bailey, Surin Overcome Memories Of Johnson’s Disqualifications

The spectre of Ben Johnson hung over the 100 meters at the World Championships on Sunday.

There was no drug scandal this time, just the bitter memory of the disgrace Johnson once brought on Canada’s track program after countrymen Donovan Bailey and Bruny Surin led a 1-2 sweep in the men’s 100.

Bailey, like Johnson, the disgraced 1987 world champion and 1988 Olympic gold medalist, was born in Jamaica. And like Johnson, he is big, strong and muscular.

But in contrast to the sullen and soft-spoken Johnson, Bailey is personable and outgoing. And Bailey wants nothing to do with Johnson.

“We don’t answer questions about Ben Johnson,” the 27-year-old Bailey said. “Bruny wasn’t running when Ben Johnson was running, and neither was I.”

Since Johnson was stripped of his Olympic and World Championships gold medals after testing positive for steroids at the Seoul Games, drug testing in Canada has stiffened considerably.

Ray Flynn, Bailey’s manager, said the new world champion has been tested at least 15 times since last November.

This was the first time two Canadians had made a 100-meter final in the Olympics or World Championships since 1988, when Johnson and Desai Williams were the participants. And it was the first time they had swept the gold and silver medals at either.

Although Bailey had the fastest time in the world this year, 9.91 seconds, he was not considered the favorite. That was Britain’s Linford Christie, the world and Olympic champion.

But Christie injured his right hamstring during Sunday’s semifinals and finished a game sixth in the final.

Bailey, a notoriously slow starter, came out stronger than usual, and was battling Ato Bolden of Trinidad and Tobago for the lead at the 70-meter mark. Then Bailey screamed an obscenity, and the 21-year-old Boldon was taken “out of my game.”

After unnerving Bolden, Bailey went on to win in 9.97. Surin the two-time world indoor 60-meter champion, edged Bolden for third, with both timed in 10.03.

With Mike Marsh finishing fifth, it was the first time the U.S. team failed to medal in the 100 at a major championship since the 1976 Olympics.

Winning the gold was special for Bailey, who was disappointed at not being used in the 400 relay at the 1993 World Championships. But that was a turning point in his career.

There, he met Dan Pfaff, the coach of another Canadian sprinter, Glenroy Gilbert.

“He told me I had all the tools to be the fastest man in the world,” Bailey said. “He told me to take advantage of it.”

Bailey took advantage of it, going to Baton Rouge, La., in February 1994 to work with Pfaff.

His work began paying off this year. Bailey, who had been considered lazy, became dedicated. He broke 10 seconds for the first time April 22, running 9.98, before running his world-leading time in the Canadian championships July 15.

Meanwhile, Gail Devers, finally healthy after a series of injuries, skimmed to her second straight world title in the women’s 100-meter hurdles.

Devers, clocking 12.68, beat Kazakhstan’s Olga Shishigina, the world leader and unbeaten in 10 finals this year, after taking command at the sixth hurdle.”Coming into the meet, I wasn’t favored,” she said. “But if I wanted to find something (to motivate her), I could look back at 1993.”

Italy’s Fiona May won the women’s long jump with a wind-aided 22 feet, 10-3/4 inches. A struggling Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the 1987 and 1991 champion, finished sixth with a wind-aided 22-1-1/2. Germany’s Heike Drechsler, the 1983 and 1993 winner, failed to make the final.

Afterward, Bob Kersee, Joyner-Kersee’s husband and coach, withdrew his wife from the heptathlon because of her poor physical condition. She was the world champion in 1987 and 1993, the Olympic champion in 1988 and 1992, and is the world record-holder.

In Sunday’s other finals, Tajikistan’s Andrey Abduvaliyev won his second consecutive hammer throw title with at 267-7, and Italy’s Michele Didono took the men’s 20-kilometer walk in a career-best 1 minute, 19:59 seconds.

The Carl Lewis odyssey finally ended when he said he would not compete in the long jump or the 400-meter relay at the championships - and not in any other events the remainder of the year.

The absence of Lewis and Dennis Mitchell, the original anchorman who injured his left leg during the 100 heats, left the U.S. relay team shorthanded.

American sprint coach Ron Bazil ruled out asking Michael Johnson, saying he already has enough to do with the 200, 400 and 1,600 relay, and would use Tony McCall, who has no international experience.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Worlds glance A glance at Sunday, the third day of the World Championships of track and field: Winners: Donovan Bailey of Canada won the men’s 100 in 9.97 seconds as Linford Christie came in sixth despite a leg injury. American Gail Devers won the women’s 100-meter hurdles for the second time. Andrey Abduvaliyev of Tajikstan also repeated as the men’s hammer throw champion. Italy scored a pair of wins. Michele Didoni took the men’s 20-kilometer walk and Fiona May surprised in the women’s long jump. Losers: Daniel Garcia of Mexico was disqualified again in the men’s 20-kilometer walk in the final part of the race, costing him a medal for the second consecutive time. Local watch: After struggling in the first three events, Moscow, Idaho’s Dan O’Brien moved into first place after five events in the men’s decathlon (see story, D1). Stat of the day: Heike Drechsler and Jackie Joyner-Kersee, with four world titles and two Olympic titles in the long jump between them, came in sixth and ninth in the long jump. A look ahead: Finals today are the men’s triple jump, women’s 10-kilometer walk, women’s 100 and the second day of the decathlon.