400 meter
final will
be fastest
of all
time if
‘big 3'
gun it
By PAUL BUKER
Of the Emerald
They’re calling it the fastest 400 meter
final ever.
Listen to UCLA coach Jim Bush on the
collossal John Smith, Lee Evans, Wayne
Collett duel:
“If those three run a perfect race, with
their ability. 44 flat may not make the
team.”
Bush, the man who knows more about
the 400 than any coach in the country, is
the proud tutor of two of the world’s
fastest—Smith and Collett.
Neither man won his semi-final heat
Friday, but then, neither really wanted to.
Running four races in three days leaves
only the strongest at the finish. The
veterans lag behind until it counts. Then
the afterburners go on.
Bush says Smith ran a good race in
finishing third behind Fred Newhouse and
his fleet 44.2. It was enough to cruise into
the final—no more. “He came off the turn
with everything under control.”
Bush gave little credence to Newhouse
and his challenging pace in the
preliminaries.
“I still say it's one of those three
Smith
(Evans, Smith, Collett) no matter what
Newhouse did. I’ve got a lot of respect for
Fred as a runner but I don’t think he can do
it in the final.”
It is expected to come down to a stride
for-stride show of muscle and an in
credible time-something in the 43’s And
Smith, fastest in the world at 440 yards, is
a co-favorite with Evans, gold medalist
and world’s fastest at 400 meters.
Only Collett, it would seem, could break
up that combination.
After his victory in Friday’s second
semi, the ex-UCLA star was nervous.
"He drew lane eight in the finals,” Bush
said. “He was upset, but I tried to convince
him that lane eight was the best lane on the
track.”
Collett, the articulate graduate of the
Bush quarter-mile program, wasn’t
talking after his race. The man has run in
the shadow of Smith and Evans for a long
time.
Anticipation made him edgy.
"I told him the lane doesn’t make any
difference,” continued Bush. "If you’re
good, you're good He feels OK, and he’s
ready.”
Smith contrasted sharply. He was
confident after drawing the third lane for
the final.
“I had lane two last year and got the
world record," he said, recalling his 44.5 in
the AAU meet on this same track.
"Each lane is 400 meters long. Besides,
I’m a good turn runner.”
But with Collett on the outside, it does
make a difference in strategy.
"In lane eight,” pointed out Bush,
"Wayne has nochoice but to come out fast.
He can't see the other guys.”
While those two are churning around the
final curve, it’s a good best Evans will be
somewhere close. He drew lane six and
after learning of the final draw said he'd
be going out in a hurry, too.
“I know I gotta really run the first 200
meters.” So in the end, it comes down to
who’s got it in the last 200.
And after watching Newhouse and Smith
shut down 40 meters from the finish line
and still clock 44.2, few doubt a world
record finish.
You can only push world record holders
so far. Then they explode
"It’s a question of mind over matter,"
says Bush.
Goodbye, 43.8
8
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