CARL LEWIS’ RETURN TO FORM: GREAT LEAP : After Knee Surgery, He’s Ready to Reclaim His No. 1 Ranking

Carl Lewis hasn’t been as dominating since winning four gold medals in the 1984 Olympic Games at the Coliseum.

Like other stars, he is always measured against his own accomplishments, which is an exceptionally high standard to maintain.

Injuries, for the most part, and the emergence of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson have prevented Lewis from figuratively towering over his opposition as he had in the past.

He even lost his No. 1 world ranking in both the 100 meters and long jump last year after five consecutive years of maintaining that status.

Even so, Lewis has a 48-meet winning streak in the long jump dating back to 1981. During that streak he had 22 jumps in the 28-foot range, and no one else has come even remotely close to that feat.

Only Bob Beamon’s world-record jump of 29 feet 2 1/2 inches at high altitude in the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City has eluded him.

Lewis and his coach, Tom Tellez, have indicated that the long jump will be more of a priority this season.

“We’re going to do all we can to break that record,” Tellez said. “It’s not mystical and it’s just been around too long.”

Lewis, as usual, isn’t making any predictions, but he is seemingly confident that he is prepared to jump farther than he ever has Sunday in the Puma Mt. San Antonio Relays, which will begin today in Walnut.

“It’s a great record, but I also believe it’s obtainable,” Lewis said. “Not only have I come so close (he has a best of 28-10), but there are some technical things that I could do better that have kept me from jumping farther. This year, I feel a lot of those things are out of the way.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that I can jump farther than I have in the past if I give myself the opportunity to do that.”

Lewis said he has jumped farther than he ever has from a short approach in practice and is pleased with the way his training is progressing.

He had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee last September to have cartilage scraped away. He said his leg feels fine except for an occasional twinge during cold weather.

Lewis hasn’t long jumped since winning the TAC meet last June with a wind-aided effort of 28-5. He sprinted during the indoor season with moderate success. He lost some races to Johnson and Lee McRae. But indoor sprinting isn’t a high priority for Lewis.

In fact, when the indoor season ended for him, he said he was just “itching and scratching” to start his long jump training.

“By not long jumping indoors, I didn’t have to make any adjustments to outdoor jumping,” Lewis said. “My approach indoors is 154 feet compared to 175 feet outdoors. You have to accelerate quicker indoors, and if I do that outdoors, I take off from back of the board.”

Lewis lost his No. 1 ranking in the long jump to Robert Emmiyan of the Soviet Union, who had the longest legal jump of 1986 in the Goodwill Games at Moscow, 28-3.

In assessing the rankings, Track & Field News said that Lewis lost on a split decision because of a shortened long jumping season.

Lewis isn’t impressed, though, by Emmiyan.

“I don’t think the Soviet is that good,” he said. “I base my opinion that he has never competed that well against (good) competition away from home. He ended up fourth in the World Indoor Championships.

“I respect people like Mike Conley and Larry Myricks because they compete well everywhere. Emmiyan was ranked No. 1 in the world last year and beat Larry in the Goodwill Games. But Larry and Mike proved themselves much more during the season.”

Lewis has more respect for Johnson, even though it’s a grudging respect.

“I look at him as another good sprinter,” he said. “I don’t see him as any better than Calvin Smith, or Ron Brown at their best. He has better times than the rest, but he’s had the benefit of the doubt on some of his starts.”

Lewis then added that Johnson just flat out beats the gun on some of his starts. Even so, Johnson beat Lewis in three races last year, including Johnson’s 9.95 100-meter win at the Goodwill Games, best time ever at sea level.

“The most bizarre thing about it is that he gets away with (jumping the gun), but you have to deal with it,” Lewis said. “If they’re going to let him fly all the time, then you still have to run your race around that. You don’t adapt your race and try to fly, either. Lee McRae jumps as well.

“But that doesn’t mean anything. You’re not going to say, ‘They jumped and I lost.’ You have to deal with whatever the race is. If they get away with flyers, you’ve got to make sure that your race is good enough to beat them with the flyers.”

But the only flying Lewis is interested in now is in the long jump. He’ll be competing Sunday against Myricks, the world indoor champion, and the last long jumper to beat Lewis.

It remains to be seen whether Lewis will regain his pre-eminence as both a sprinter and long jumper. Although his schedule isn’t definitely set, he said he would like to compete in the same three events--100, long jump and sprint relay--in the World Championships in Rome Aug 29-Sept. 6 as he did in the first championship meet in 1983 in Helsinki, where he was a triple winner.

Lewis is only 25, but it seems that he’s been around for a much longer time because of his high visibility.

As for any retirement plans, Lewis said: “I’m going to look at it very hard after ’88. I’ve been at it so long that everyone thinks I’m 50.

“I’m too hyper just to run track, even though I enjoy the sport so much. I’d like to finish my career on a high swing. I’d like to do other things in my 20s before they’re gone.”

There is some unfinished business, though, such as Beamon’s record, which seems to cast a longer shadow as the years go by.

Track Notes

A distance carnival starting at 7 o’clock will be the featured attraction of the meet tonight. World-class distances runners competing include Pat Porter and Michael Musyoki in the 10,000 meters; Peter Koech, Rudolfo Gomez and Mauricio Gonzales in the 5,000; Julius Kariuki in the 3,000 steeplechase and Brenda Webb in the women’s 3,000. . . . The major portion of the invitational meet Sunday will start at noon. . . . It was at this meet 27 years ago that Ralph Boston broke Jesse Owens’ 25-year-old long jump record of 26-8. . . . Carl Lewis said that he probably won’t compete in the May 16 Pepsi Invitational as planned because he’ll be attending special ceremonies honoring his father in New Jersey on that day. . . . Lewis on his conditioning: “The difference now compared to last year is like night and day. I’m in the same condition that I was in the TAC meet last June and even better in the jumping phase.”

Other featured performers Sunday include John Brenner, who will try to improve on his recent American shotput record of 73-0 1/2; Olympic champion Alonzo Babers in the 400; Johnny Gray, the world’s third-ranked 800 runner, moving up to the 1,500; American record-holder Jimmy Howard opposing Doug Nordquist in the high jump; 19-foot pole vaulter Thierry Vigneron of France, and Roger Kingdom, the 1984 Olympic gold medalist in the 110-meter high hurdles. Moreover, UCLA’s 1,600-meter relay team composed of Anthony Washington, Kevin Young, Danny Everett and Henry Thomas will try to go under three minutes against two all-star teams featuring Edwin Moses and Andre Phillips, who are renowned as 400-meter hurdlers.

CARL LEWIS’ LONG JUMP STREAK

1981 Date Site Distance March 13 Detroit 27-10i March 19 Houston 26-5 3/4 April 24 Philadelphia 26-9 May 10 Los Angeles 28-3 3/4w May 16 Dallas 27-0 3/4 June 5 Baton Rouge, La. 27-0 3/4i June 20 Sacramento 28-3 1/2 June 26 Oslo, Norway 26-4 July 3 Ovre Ard, Norway 25-9 1/2 Aug. 19 Zurich 27-11 1/2 Sept. 4 Rome 26-9

1982 Date Site Distance Jan. 16 East Rutherford, N.J. 28-1i Jan. 22 Los Angeles 27-1 3/4i Feb. 12 New York 27-3 3/4i Feb. 26 New York 28-0 3/4i May 16 Los Angeles 28-3 May 29 Wichita, Kan. 27-6 June 19 Knoxville, Tenn. 27-10 July 24 Indianapolis 28-9 Aug. 7 Los Angeles 27-10 3/4w Aug. 18 Zurich 28- 1 3/4

1983 Date Site Distance Jan. 15 Rosemont, Ill. 27-4i Jan. 28 New York 28-0i Feb. 18 San Diego 27-9 1/2i Feb. 25 New York 27-4 3/4i Feb. 26 East Rutherford, N.J. 27-8 3/4i May 15 Los Angeles 28-1 June 19 Indianpolis 28-10 Aug. 10 Helsinki 28-0 3/4 Aug. 26 Brussels 27-5

1984 Date Site Distance Jan. 27 New York 28-10i Feb. 11 East Rutherford, N.J. 28-0i Feb. 24 New York 27-10 3/4i May 13 Los Angeles 28-7 June 19 Los Angeles 28-7 July 21 Sacramento 28-1w Aug. 6 Los Angeles 28-0 Aug. 24 Brussels 28-4 1/2

1985 Date Site Distance Jan. 25 New York 27-10 3/4i Feb. 8 Los Angeles 27-1 3/4i May 4 Houston 28-0 May 18 Los Angeles 28-9w Aug. 30 Brussels 28-3 1/2 Sept. 22 Tokyo 27-2

03,8C,12C,8CTH*31986DateSiteDistanceTDFeb. 8New York27-5 1/2iApril 27Walnut, Ca.27-4wMay 4Houston27-1wJune 20Eugene, Ore.28-5 1/2wET i--indoor; w--wind