Carl Lewis claims Ben Johnson made a false start in setting his 100-meter world record of 9.83 seconds at the World Championships in Rome last week, the Swedish daily Expressen reported. ”I knew it. Now I am convinced that Ben Johnson went too early. We should have been recalled,” Expressen quoted Lewis as saying from Brussels after Lewis had studied a series of photos from the start. ”I remember when I came out of the starting blocks, I saw Johnson had already started running. I wondered how it was possible. Now I know.” Said Johnson: ”It was no false start. I don`t think these photos are
interesting.”
Calling the current arrangement a ”cruel hoax” being played on student athletes, National League President A. Bartlett Giamatti has called for reforms in big-time college athletics. Speaking at a fall convocation at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., the former president of Yale University said it was unfair of some schools to use athletes to ”make money off them, increase their fame because of them, and do not educate them.”
”The NCAA is not entirely to blame for the sorry state of big time athletics,” Giamatti said. ”Nor does one properly blame television entirely. I place blame for these scandals on those who run the colleges and universities that give money to young people for the sole purpose of playing a sport for the commercial gain of the institution.”
Giamatti said reform must come from within. He said key ingredients should include the awarding of all undergraduate financial aid on a need basis, the disbanding of alumni or booster groups that contribute cash to students and declaring freshmen ineligible for all varsity sports.
NCAA Director Dick Schultz, speaking at the annual convention of the Iowa Newspaper Association, said the NCAA is powerless to restore integrity to intercollegiate athletics, but universities can do it overnight by demanding honesty from their players, coaches and fans. ”When the pressures of fans and powerful coaches falls on the board of trustees, that board cannot cave in,” he said. ”If each board would take that position, we could solve the integrity problem overnight.”
Roberto Duran (82-7) continued his comeback with a unanimous decision over Juan Carlos Gimenez (25-4-2) in a 10-round middleweight bout in Miami. There were no knockdowns.
Lori McNeil and Pam Shriver head the United States team named to defend the Wightman Cup tennis title against Britain. Also on the squad, chosen by coach Marty Riessen and the U.S. Tennis Association, are Zina Garrison, Robin White and Gigi Fernandez. This year`s best-of-seven series-five singles matches and two doubles-is Oct. 29-31 at William & Mary Hall in Williamsburg, Va.
The University of Wisconsin athletic board has approved a recommendation from Athletic Director Ade Sponberg and extended the contracts of basketball coach Steve Yoder and hockey coach Jeff Sauer through 1990-91.
Indy-car driver Roberto Guerrero remains in critical but stable condition after suffering head injuries in a crash Thursday during testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Mark Martin picked up his third Busch Grand National stock-car victory of the season when rain in Richmond, Va., cut short the Freedlander 200 by 20 laps. Martin trailed Harry Gant late in the 200-lap event on the half-mile oval, but Gant ran over debris, cut a tire and gave up the top spot to Martin just 33 laps from the end. Martin, who averaged 66.180 miles an hour, won $8,000.
South Korea said it wouldn`t accept a message from North Korea containing an
”urgent” proposal on the 1988 Olympics until proper delivery arrangements are made. North Korea had announced Friday that a delegation headed by its Olympic Committee chairman, Kim Yu Sun, would deliver the letter Saturday at the Panmunjon meeting site on the border. South Korean Olympic Committee President Kim Chong-ha said the message wouldn`t be accepted because the delivery time set by the North Koreans fell outside working hours and Pyongyang hadn`t consulted Seoul on a mutually convenient time.
Daniele Caroli of Italy won the third leg of the 67th Tour of Catalonia cycling race in Barcelona, Spain. Sean Kelly of Ireland fell off his bike and suffered a head injury that was not serious. He was able to continue, finishing 10th, and kept the yellow jersey as the overall leader. Caroli covered the 93 miles in 3 hours 36 minutes 13 seconds.
Paul Kuznetsov of the Soviet Union won the heavyweight title of the World Weightlifting Championships in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, with a snatch of 424 pounds and lift of 507 pounds in the clean and jerk. Last year`s winner, Nicu Vlad of Romania, was second, lifting 925 1/2 pounds.
John Powell of the U.S. won the Wolfgang Schmidt Memorial discus meet in Malmo, Sweden, with a toss of 236 feet 6 inches, the top throw in the world this year.
World champion China whipped South Korea 15-7, 15-6, 15-4 and Japan beat the U.S. 8-15, 15-6, 15-8, 13-5, 15-9 in the World Super-four women`s volleyball tournament in Hong Kong.
Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela leads the Japan Cup `87 bowling tournament in Tokyo with 6,133 pins after 24 games. Japan`s Takeo Sakai (6,058) moved past Pete Weber (5,925) for second.
