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1984 OLYMPIC HOPEFULS

Black Athletes Should Score Breakthroughs in LA Games

WHEN the world's top amateur athletes throng Los Angeles this summer to participate in the XXIII Olympic Games, Black Olympians from the U.S. will figure prominently among their number. Many of these Black athletes are already national and international champions in their respective sports, and, barring injury, are expected not only to be shoo-ins for America's Olympic team, but to make superior showings during the summer games. For the most of these athletes, it will mark the first time since 1976 - America boycotted the 1980 games - that they will have participated in Olympic competition. Some of them are well known, some less so - and indeed there could be some surprises as well. 

Carl Lewis, a triple threat dynamo and the world's top-ranked sprinter and long jumper, is generally seen as America's best hope for the gold. Not only since Jesse Owens dashed Adolf Hitler's theory of Aryan superiority by winning first place in the 100-meters, the 200-meters and the long jump - shattering world records in the process - has America looked so good. But Lewis is not America's only hope; there are others. Dianne Durham, from Gary, Ind., who this year became the first Black female to win the U.S. Gymnastics Championship, will also become the first Black woman gymnast to participate in the Olympic Games. That's no small accomplishment, especially for a 15-year-old still trying to adjust to the roar of the crowd.

Black Olympic hopefuls, while still prominent in track and field events, boxing and basketball, this time around will be more visible and more versatile than ever before. Like Durham, they offer the possibility for some real breakthroughs in Olympic competition for Black Americans. A swimmer from UCLA stands an outside chance of making the freestyle relay time; a cyclist from New York has a very good chance of making the cycling team; a couple of good weightlifters stand a better than even shot to make the weightlifting team. And there are excellent prospects in wrestling and judo. There will be some disappointments along the way, for sure, but Black America will be well represented. Featured in the following pages are America's Black Olympic hopefuls.

TRACK AND FIELD. Track and field is the one category where Black Americans have long been predominant. Perhaps the most recognizable name in this Olympiad is Carl Lewis, a solid triple threat.

Lewis, a 21-year-old from Willingboro, N.J., now attends the University of Houston. He holds the American record in the 200-meters, with a time of 19.75 seconds, set last June. In the long jump his best effort is 28 feet-10 3/4 inches, the second longest jump in history. (Bob Beamon holds the world long jump record of 29 feet-2 1/2 inches.) In the 100-meter, Lewis' personal best is 9.96 seconds, approaching Calvin Smith's new world record of 9.93 seconds set at Colorado Springs last July. Smith, 23, like Lewis is a shoo-in for the 1984 Olympic team, barring injury. In 1982, he was the national champion in the 200-meter dash. He set the world record for the 100-meters at 9.93 seconds last July in Colorado Springs, but the rap on Smith's record is that it was run in the mile-high Colorado altitude where the atmosphere offers less resistance. Nonetheless, it is still a legal mark. Smith was also a member of the

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[[caption]] Peter Westbrook, men's national sabre champion, is considered a shoo-in for the Olympic team. Evelyn Ashford (center, 1.), women's world record holder in the 100-meters, is expected to make a superior showing at the games, as is Calvin Smith (with Ashford), men's world record holder in the 100-meters. Edwin Moses, the world record holder in the 400-meter hurdles, is expected to bring back another gold medal. [[/caption]]

Reprint from Ebony Magazine

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