CARACAS, Venezuela -- Cliff Wiley of Lawrence, Kan., battling high humidity, an asthma condition and pressure from a poor season, sprinted to victory in the 400 meters for the only United States' gold medal in track and field Saturday at the Pan American Games.
Wiley, until this year one of the world's best 400 runners, won the gold in 45.02 seconds to hold off the charges of Cuban Lazaro Martinez (45.37) and Brazilian Gerson Andrade (45.45).
James Rolle of Orlando, Fla., one of the nation's top junior runners, tired down the homestretch and finished fiftO.
After Wiley's triumph, he jogged a victory lap and then had to lie down on the track to regain his breath.
'When you run the quarter, you exert your body to its farthest point,' Wiley said. 'I think I reached that point. I made it through the win and the victory lap but then it kind of caught up with me.'
Wiley, 28, said he has Oad an asthma condition for some time and added, 'I've had some problems breathing down here, with the altitude and high humidity.
'And it seems like with all the stuff going on down here, there's nothing I can take for it,' in a reference to the spreading drug probe this week.
Wiley had a sharp indoor season this past winter but then was bothered by a slight problem in his right hamstring and faded to sixth in the National Outdoor Championships, so he thought he had something to prove in Caracas. The first thing he did was make sure he wore high white socks, which he said was a trademark of his in high school.
'I reached back to my roots for that one. There's been a lot of pressure on me,' he said. 'I've been doing things wrong all year. It feels good to come back and win.'
Easter Gabriel of New Orleans, who competes for Prairie View A&M, had a strong finish to nab the bronze medal in the women's 400 in 52.45 as she caught Cathy Rattray of Jamaica. The winner was Charmaine Crooks of Canada in a Pan Am record time of 51.49 and Ana Quirot of Cuba got the silver in 51.83.
Crooks' time broke the record of 51.62 set by fellow Canadian Joyce Yakubowich at the 1975 Games in Mexico.
Cubans kept the U.S. out of the top two spots in earlier field events. In the women's discus throw, Maria Bettancourt, one of the world leaders, won the gold medal with a fling of 198 feet and teammate Maritza Marten took the silver medal at 195-7.
Lorna Griffin of Huntington Beach, Calif., was able to salvage a bronze for the Americans with a toss of 185-5 and Penny Neer of Hillsdale, Mich., was fourth in the five-woman competition 174-11.
Jorge Reyna of Cuba won the triple jump with an excellent mark of 55-11 , outdistancing more highly-regarded Lazaro Bettancourt at 54-11 . Jose Salazar of Venezuela pleased the local fans by getting off a 53-4 leap on his last try to knock David Siler of Knoxville, Tenn., down to fourth place with 52-10 .
Siler said he was hampered when he was given a wrong starting time for the event by someone with the American team.
'They told me it was 5 o'clock and I knew it was 3 o'clock,' Siler said. 'But I relaxed when they told me five. I don't want to say who it was because I'm pretty made about it.'
Dave Steen of Canada ended up winning a war of attrition in the decathlon with a total of 7,958 points. Douglas Fernandez of Venezuela, despite throwing the javelin a South American record of 258-9 in the next-to-last event, had to settle for a silver and Freddy Aberdeen of Venezuela -- the only other remaining competitor -- walked away with a bronze.
The withdrawal earlier in the day of first day leader Paolo Lima of Brazil and Tito Steiner, the favorite, of Argentina meant that seven of the original 10 competitors did not finish the 10-event test. Americans John Crist of Santa Ana, Calif., and Gary Bastien of Auburn, Ala., did not start because of injuries.
William Wuyke, the Venezuelan who was tripped up in the 800-final earlier this week, announced he would not be able to participate in Sunday's 4 X 400 relay because of injuries that were still troubling him.
The men's 4 X 100 relay semifinals were canceled when only eight teams entered. The final will be held Sunday. The semifinals of the men's 110-meter hurdles also were canceled with only eight competitors, with the final set for Sunday.
Mexicans Raoul Gonzales and Martin Bermudez were the first and second finishers in the 50-kilometer walk.
Querubin Moreno of Columbia was third while Tom Edwards of Central Valley, N.Y., was fourth. Sam Shick of Beaverton, Ore., who has been suffering from the flu this week, dropped out at the 20-kilometer mark.
Shick became the 18th American track and field athlete this week to fail to finish a competition.
