CARACAS, Venezuela -- It took less than two minutes to run the men's 800-meter race at the Pan American Games. It took some six hours to decide who won it.
The men's 800 meters began innocently enough at 6:50 p.m. EDT with local favorite William Wuyke of Venezuela cheered wildly from the opening gun. But the cheers turned to abrupt silence, jeers and then confusion as the race wound down.
When the runners rounded the final turn, Wuyke was beginning to fade behind a strong kick by Brazilians Agberto Guimares and Jose Barbosa. But Wuyke suddenly tripped and fell to the ground in a maze of spikes, leaving Guimares and Barbosa to sprint to the finish line uncontested for apparent gold and silver medals.
Wuyke was not seriously injured and later said Guimares, who was roundly booed by the fans and had to be escorted by the police, was not responsible for the tumble. But judges disagreed and hours after officially proclaiming Guimares the winner, they changed the decision and disqualified Guimares for interference.
Citing Article 147 of the regulations of international athletics, the judges ordered a rerun of the race at 6:50 p.m. Friday. But the matter was then presented to a Jury of Appeals who reviewed films of the race for quite some time. Some six hours after the race had been run, the Grand Jury reversed the decision by three votes to two.
'The jury was not convinced that the contact was intentional, or anything other that the type of contact that may occur in races not run in lanes,' read the official verdict.
So Guimares was declared the winner with Barbosa second and Stanley Redwin of Fayetteville, Ark., third.
'I won the race fairly. I did not hit Wuyke; in fact, it was he who hit me in the leg with his spike before he went down. I have the marks to prove it,' added Guimares, pointing to his scarred right calf.
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The Venezuelan delegation said today they planned to appeal the jury's verdict.
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'I don't think (he hit me),' Wuyke admitted. 'I just fell.'
The crowd of almost 30,000 at Olympic Stadium had waited patiently while Cubans capitalized on a poor American showing to grab five of eight gold medals. In a performance that was typical of U.S. success for the day, Jarvis Redwine of Fayetteville, Ark., could manage just a third place in the disputed 800 race in 1:47.26 with James Mays of Hereford, Texas trailing in 1:47.65.
Mays will get another chance Friday but Redwine, who said he has to return to school at Arkansas, likely will not be there.
The Americans, hit hard by the pullout of 12 male athletes Tuesday, were further trimmed when two of their top female hopes were injured. Heptathlete Marlene Harmon of Canoga Park, Calif., suffered an ankle injury in the decathlon's first event and Lisa Hopkins of Los Angeles did not make it to the women's 100 final after aggravating a groin injury.
Jackie WasOington of Houston was then shocked in a slow 100 by Esmeralda Garcia of Brazil, who trailed WasOington with 10 meters to go but had a better dip at the tape to snatch the gold in 11.31. Garcia called it 'the most fabulous moment of my life.'
Soon after, the Cubans dealt the U.S. another stunning setback when Jamie Jefferson got off his best long jump ever of 26 feet 4 inches on his last attempt to take the gold away from Vesco Bradley of Tampa, Fla., who had been leading since the second round with a jump of 26-2 .
In the men's 400-meter hurdles, James King of San Diego could only manage the bronze medal in a disappointing 50.31. Frank Monthie of Cuba, who plans to become a baseball trainer, was first in 50.02, barely beating the 50.08 by Antonio Diaz Ferreira of Brazil.
Leandro Penalver of Cuba further upstaged the Americans by setting the first Pan Am record of the meet with a time of 10.06 in the men's 100. That improved on the mark of 10.12 set by Harvey Glance of the U.S. in Puerto Rico in 1979. Sam Graddy of Atlanta was third in 10.18.
However, the U.S. received a strong 1-2 finish from Judi Brown of East Lansing, Mich., and Sharrieffa Barksdale of Harriman, Tenn., in the women's 400-meter hurdles.
There were other non-athletic developments at the track. The U.S. Olympic Committee admitted that decathlete Gary Bastien of Auburn, Ala., was incorrectly listed as being part of the group who pulled out Tuesday, and several groups of photographers agreed not to cover the track events because of 'harassment' and 'impossible' working conditions.
United States boxers were also stalled in their attempt for a major gold-medal heist when three of their four fighters on the card were eliminated in the semifinals. Steve McCrory lost 3-2 to Laureano Ramirez of the Dominican Republic, Floyd Favors fell 4-1 to Manuel Vilchez of Venezuela, and Bernard Gray lost 4-1 to Santos Cardona of Puerto Rico.
The lone winner was Paul Gonzales of Los Angeles in the first fight of the night, scoring a unanimous decision over Manuelito Dos Santos of Brazil.
The three losses ended the Americans' winning streak at 12.
Even a U.S. ace couldn't come up victorious. Rose McEachern had three hits and Canada built a five-run lead against pitching ace Lori Stoll before holding on to defeat the United States 5-4 for the gold medal in women's softball.
The men's basketball team salvaged some pride with an 81-68 victory over Mexico behind 19 points by Wayman Tisdale and 18 by Michael Jordan. The victory raised the Americans' record to 5-0 with three games left in the tournament.
In yachting, the U.S. picked up three gold medals, winning the J-24, Star and Snipe classes. Brazil won the 470, Laser, Lighting and Soling classes.
