WORLD SPORTS SCENE : If Olympic Schedule Changes, It Would Be Bad Break for Lewis

The International Amateur Athletic Federation, which governs track and field, has intensified its campaign to change the schedule for the Olympic Games at Barcelona, Spain, so that American Michael Johnson can compete in both the 200 and 400 meters.

As the schedule stands, the finals in the two events will be run 20 minutes apart. Officials from Barcelona’s organizing committee want to keep it that way because programs already have been printed and tickets sold, although they concede that they ultimately will have to bow to pressure.

But the IAAF does not seem to have considered that the change would work to the detriment of Carl Lewis.

If the final in the 200 meters is rescheduled one day later than originally planned, it would begin only 20 minutes before the start of the long jump final. Lewis indicated last week that he is considering competing in both, along with the 100 and the 400-meter relay.

“If they make this change, they’re going against a superstar in favor of Michael Johnson,� says Lewis’ manager, Joe Douglas of the Santa Monica Track Club. “I don’t mind them changing it for a great athlete, and Michael Johnson might be the greatest some day, but he’s not there yet.�

Ranked No. 1 in the world in the 200 and 400 in 1990 and ‘91, Johnson has not lost in the 200 in almost two years or in the 400 in almost four years. If not great, he is thisclose .

But Douglas’ point is well taken. The International Olympic Committee and the IAAF should consider Lewis’ needs first. He has earned that much.

Lewis and Leroy Burrell say that the winner of the 100 meters at Barcelona will have to run it in 9.83 seconds, faster than Lewis’ world record of 9.86. Dennis Mitchell, who finished third behind them in last year’s World Championships at Tokyo, has taken that to heart.

“I have 9.83 written all over my house,� he says. “I have it in front of my TV, in front of my stereo, even on my mirror so that I see it when I brush my teeth.�

The skepticism over the time of 9.91 in the 100 that was credited to Nigeria’s Davidson Ezinwa 10 days ago in a meet at Azusa is puzzling, considering his credentials.

Ezinwa, 20, was a silver medalist behind Great Britain’s Linford Christie in the Commonwealth Games and had the second-fastest time in the world at 50 meters during this year’s indoor season.

After Ezinwa ran a 9.96 to finish second Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College before a crowd estimated at 12,500 plus the national press and Ted Turner’s television cameras, his coach at Azusa Pacific, Terry Franson, said: “I don’t think there should be any more questions about him.�

Ditto for Mike Marsh, who ran 9.93 to beat Ezinwa at Mt. SAC. After leaving Los Angeles in 1991 to train in Houston with Lewis and Burrell, the former UCLA All-American initially went backward. “People told him that he should move back to L.A., that he was running better there,� Lewis says. “But he was patient.� . . . Lewis adds that Marsh had difficulty adjusting to Coach Tom Tellez. “Coach Tellez doesn’t just expect improvement,� Lewis says. “He demands perfection.�

In his first race since having his drug suspension lifted for domestic competition, world record-holder Butch Reynolds ran the 400 Saturday at Stanford in 45.92. He knew what he was doing when he chose not to compete at Mt. SAC, where Steve Lewis ran 44.45 and Quincy Watts 44.46. Two weeks ago in Oklahoma, Michael Johnson ran 44.23. But Reynolds promises improvement next weekend in the Drake Relays. He needs a 45.49 to qualify for the Olympic trials. . . . Two-time Olympic champion Daley Thompson of Great Britain and former U.S. champion Dave Johnson will compete in a decathlon this week at Azusa Pacific.

The Athletics Congress, the national governing body for track and field, might not extend Executive Director Ollan Cassell’s contract, which expires in March. The executive committee voted, 10-9, to reconsider the matter in June. As one member explained, that should not be considered a vote of confidence for Cassell, but a chance for him to prepare his case.

USOC Treasurer Leroy Walker appears a lock to become the committee’s next president in an October vote. There was some question whether his role as a vice president of the Atlanta organizing committee for the 1996 Summer Olympics would be a conflict, but he says he’s willing to resign that position if necessary. . . . The USOC is preparing its short list of recommendations to fill the IOC opening created when Robert Helmick resigned. Look for Michael Lenard, the young Los Angeles lawyer and former Olympic team handball player who is a USOC vice president, to be near the top.

European qualifying for soccer’s 1994 World Cup begins Wednesday with Cyprus at Belgium and Albania at Spain. . . . Argentina’s Diego Maradona again is in trouble with soccer’s international federation, FIFA, for playing in a charity game while under suspension for cocaine use. Of FIFA President Joao Havelange, Maradona says: “Nobody in Argentina will cry when he dies.� Of Maradona, a FIFA spokesman says: “We are used to him saying silly things.�

Phoebe Mills, a bronze medalist at the 1988 Olympics in gymnastics, finished 23rd in the national platform diving championships last week, failing to qualify for the Olympic trials. But Mills, 19, is optimistic about her potential in the sport. . . . U.S. gymnast Sandy Woolsey, eighth in the world all-around competition in 1989, has retired because of a recurring hip injury. . . . It does not appear as though basketball’s international federation, FIBA, will allow Mark Aguirre to play this summer for Mexico, although his father and grandfather were born there. . . . Speculation is that figure skater Natasha Kuchiki of Canoga Park, left on her own when Todd Sand changed partners, will move to the University of Delaware Figure Skating Club, where there is an abundance of pairs skaters.