But there’s another Reebok question, one with a new significance: just who was responsible for the “Dan and Dave” idea. Before The Miss, Mark Bossardet, a Reebok promotions director liked to say, “There are probably a lot of people taking credit for it.” Not anymore.
Actually, but for the embarrassment, Dan Reebok move a lot of merchandise. But the ads never should have included the tag line “To be settled in Barcelona.” The decision was actually made in the blistering New Orleans heat. O’Brien chose to skip several lower heights in the pole vault, which, if cleared, would have assured him a spot on the team. At 15 feet 9 inches, he had no margin for error. “You miss the first attempt, you start to panic,” said Bruce Jenner, who won an Olympic gold medal in the 1976 decathlon. “Miss the second, you go numb. On the third attempt you haven’t got a prayer.”
Until O’Brien’s stunning failure, the most dramatic performance was by sprinter Butch Reynolds, another athlete who ultimately fell short, too. Still banished by the international track federation (IAAF) because of steroid use, Reynolds, the recordholder in the 400 meters, had to go to the U.S. Supreme Court to win the right to compete. “My attorneys did my legal work,” said Reynolds, whose legal challenge delayed the race for three days. “Now it’s up to me to do the work on the track.”
Reynolds proceeded to do just that. Four cops, four MPs and a burly New Orleans Saints defensive lineman escorted him into the stadium where he won his first two heats, then donned a T shirt that read DRUG FREE BODY. “We were looking at this as a great week of sport,” said Ollan Cassell, executive director of The Athletic Congress (TAC), which governs the sport. “We end up with pictures of policemen escorting athletes to the starting line. That’s what the world will remember.”
The world certainly won’t remember many record-breaking performances, thanks to the sweltering heat. One of the purported reasons for choosing New Orleans was to prepare the team for a Barcelona summer. The Times-Picayune delighted in making daily comparisons of the two cities’ temperatures–some days New Orleans was almost 30 degrees warmer. While competition in Barcelona will be post-siesta, NBC mandated daytime events in the peak heat. Locals took to calling the stadium “The Wok” as temperatures on the artificial surface reached triple figures. Rochelle Stevens, who won the women’s 400, said she prepared for the heat by driving around her hometown of Memphis without air conditioning. Leroy Burrell insisted the 100-meter race wasn’t a true test of who was fastest. “It was a matter of who ate the best, who drank the best and who had the energy,” said Burrell, whose final grape-juice and two-Snickers snack was apparently just enough for him to finish third, earning the last spot on the team.
Whatever Carl Lewis was eating didn’t work as well. In the 100, he finished a dismal sixth, behind winner Dennis Mitchell. Lewis, who turns 31 this week, claimed it was just a bad day. But he was concerned enough about his showing to visit a local hospital, which found nothing worse than mild dehydration. Then in the first round of the long jump, Lewis didn’t even reach 27 feet, a distance he can usually land in his sleep. In the final, he jumped 28 feet, but conceded first place to Mike Powell, the man who last year broke the world record.
The world’s greatest woman athlete, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, won the heptathlon easily, though her winning total was far below her gold-medal and world-record performance in Seoul. Her coach and husband, Bob Kersee, says Jackie hasn’t recovered mentally after a severe hamstring injury last year. “Right now Jackie’s addicted to fear,” he said. Asked if their contentious on-track relationship affected their marriage, Kersee deadpanned, “I don’t know, but I’ve missed a lot of meals this year.”
No one at the trials has had a more difficult year than Reynolds. Butch, originally with TAC’s support, challenged the IAAF suspension because of procedural irregularities in his drug test. But the federation stood firm, threatening to suspend anyone who raced against him. When Justice John Paul Stevens ordered Reynolds into the trials, 30 of his 31 rivals (his brother, Jeff, was the lone exception) refused to compete. In an emotional meeting under a tent outside the stadium just minutes before the race, Reynolds disclaimed the drug-test results (“the s-t wasn’t mine”) and pleaded for black solidarity against IAAF. But Danny Everett, a double medalist along with Reynolds in Seoul, fired back, “How can you talk about something that’s good for black athletes when your being here threatens the careers of 31 other black athletes?”
The IAAF finally relented and let the 400 proceed. But the two-front battle took a toll on Reynolds. In Friday’s final, he finished fifth, earning a spot as an olympic alternate only–one the International Olympic Committee is certain to veto. Reynolds may take comfort that the 1996 Olympics will be held in Atlanta, Ga., where the U.S. Supreme Court wields more power than the IAAF. And where collectors will still be hunting for Dan and Dave T shirts.
