Venerable but Vulnerable, Gray, 40, Retires After Race

By MIKE PENNER

July 21, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO — Johnny Gray was thinking about calling a news conference to announce his retirement from track and field Thursday night, but the logistics were a little impractical.

At the time, Gray was halfway through his first-round 800-meter qualifying heat at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

“I quit in the middle of the race,” said Gray, who at 40 was trying to become the first American male track athlete to compete in five Olympics. “Because I quit the sport. What was going through my mind out there was, ‘That’s it, I’ve retired, you’ve seen the last of Johnny Gray.’ ”

Strange time to call it a career, though. At 400 meters, Gray was leading a field that included Danny Everett and Bryan Woodward. At 500, he was still in contention for a berth in the semifinals.

But then he downshifted into cruise control and slipped back to fourth place . . . then fifth . . . then finally coasting across the finish in sixth--and last place--with a taking-it-easy time of 1 minute 53.27 seconds.

Officially, that left Gray 27th out of 29 finishers.

“At the starting line, I didn’t even want to be out there,” Gray said. “Fans were saying amazing things to me, things I never heard before. Like, ‘Johnny, you’re the best!’ And ‘Keep running till you’re 50!’ It got me thinking about my career and all I’ve accomplished in the sport.

“Warming up, I couldn’t get into it. Every interview I’ve done leading up to this, I walked away thinking, ‘That’s it.’ Because so much was made of me being 40 years old. I started feeling like I was 40 years old out there. ‘Run till you’re 50?’ No way.

“So halfway through, I gave up. I don’t want to say I’m a quitter, but mentally, I was done. I didn’t want to struggle through a couple rounds to reach the final. I said to myself, ‘I’m ready to go to the Masters [division]. I’m going to win the gold at the Masters.’ ”

The capacity crowd of 23,124 at Hornet Stadium sensed as much, giving him a standing ovation as he jogged one final lap.

“JOHN-EE! JOHN-EE!” the crowd chanted as Gray stopped and took several deep bows.

“That victory lap felt better than the American record,” said Gray, whose 1985 time of 1:42.60 remains the fastest 800 meters run by an American. “That was the best lap I ever ran.”

It was also nearly as fast as the last lap of his last heat in his last Olympic trials.

“I’ve been doing this a long time,” Gray said. “Twenty years. I stuck around two decades as a drug-free athlete and I ducked nobody. I ran against the likes of Sebastian Coe, Joaquin Cruz, Said Aouita, Steve Cram--and they’ve all been retired for years.

“I relived so much during that victory lap. I think [the crowd] got more out of that lap than if I had gone on [to the semifinals].

So instead of Sydney, Gray is headed to Eugene, Ore., for the Masters championship in August.

“I’m going to run some fast times there,” Gray said. “People are going to say, ‘Look at that 40-year-old running those times.’

“You can quote me on this: I’m going to win the gold medal.”

Two-time national champion Pascal Dobert won the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final with a time of 8 minutes 15.77 seconds, finishing only .09 of a second shy of Henry Marsh’s U.S. trials record, set in 1980.

Dobert, 26, who won the U.S. title in 1998 and 1999, will be competing in his first Olympics. At the 1996 trials, he finished ninth.

Joining Dobert on the American steeplechase team are second- and third-place finishers Mark Croghan (8:16.20) and Tony Cosey (8:21.41). Croghan, a five-time U.S. champion, will be running in his third Olympics.

Breaux Greer upset American record holder and five-time national champion Tom Pukstys to win the men’s javelin final with a throw of 266 feet 0 inches.

Pukstys, owner of the top 10 marks in the United States in 1999, took second at 260-4 and Todd Riech placed third at 252-5, but because Greer has not yet achieved the Olympic “A” qualifying standard of 269 feet, Pukstys and Riech are technically not on the U.S. Olympic team.

Greer has until early September to reach the “A” standard. If he get it, Pukstys and Riech will qualify for Sydney; if not, Greer will be the only American male javelin thrower in the Olympic Games.

With 1996 Olympic champion Dan O’Brien sidelined because of a foot injury, Chris Huffins and Tom Pappas moved to the top of the decathlon standings after five events, Huffins leading Pappas by 112 points--4,563 to 4,451.

“Overall, I’m pleased,” said Huffins, the 1998 and 1999 U.S. champion. “It’s just a good solid effort.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials

* Where: Sacramento. * TV: PAX, 8 p.m.

TODAY’S EVENTS

2 p.m.--Men’s high jump qualifying

2 p.m.--Women’s pole vault qualifying

2 p.m.--Decathlon 110 hurdles

4:45 p.m.--Decathlon discus

6 p.m.--Decathlon pole vault

6:05 p.m.--Men’s hammer final

7 p.m.--Men’s triple jump qualifying