Leroy Burrell

For Leroy Burrell, the fastest man in the world, his toughest adversary may very well be himself. Plagued by injuries and disappointments these past two years, his sole major achievement has been to reclaim the world record in the 100 meters, an accomplishment spectacular to everyone but Burrell. Although he has broken the world record in the 100 meter dash twice since 1991 and won numerous national and international races, victory at the big events such as the Olympics and World Championships still eludes him. "There are a lot of athletes who haven't broken the world record, but who have won the World Championships or the Olympics and can call their careers complete. I can't call my career complete."

Nor does he have to. Burrell, who turns 29 on February 21 is six years younger than childhood idol and current teammate Carl Lewis who is still running strong. But Burrell has much to accomplish before he can approach the stature that Lewis with eight Olympic gold medals and eight World Championship gold medals has.

Burrell has never had problems battling physical challenges, but only in the last couple of years has his mental toughness begun to approach his physical prowess. Born with severe myopia in his right eye, he had trouble fielding baseballs, and his junior high baseball coach in suburban Philadelphia told him "Leroy, you're a nice kid, but you're wasting your time. Why don't you go out for track." In ninth grade at age 14 he followed this advice. That was the year Carl Lewis dominated the track in the summer Olympics and inspired Burrell. "I think every kid in school wanted to be Carl Lewis," said Burrell. In 1986 he enrolled in Lewis' alma mater, the University of Houston, and was coached by his idol.

His first major injury came early on, in the 1986 Southwest Conference Championships during his sophomore year. The long jump injury resulted in a torn ACL in his left knee and almost ended his track and field career. But he came back strong after being sidelined for a year and learned a great deal under the tutelage of Lewis. Comments Burrell, "I must admit that when I first met Carl, I was in awe. He was my hero. But after a while you realize he's the kind of person who can be your friend."

They are good friends now, running for the same club (the Santa Monica Track Club) and winning relays together, but they have also been fierce competitors. In 1990 Burrell was ranked first in the 100 meters and was undefeated in 1991 before facing the biggest disappointment of his life. At the World Championships in Tokyo that year, he ran the fastest 100 meters of his career clocking in at 9.88 seconds breaking the world record time of 9.90 he had set in June of that year. The only problem was that his teammate, Carl Lewis, shattered both times with a 9.86 finish. Burrell was devastated. "I went into that meet undefeated for the year, thinking it had to happen for me. To run that time and lose was inconceivable to me." To make matters worse, both he and Lewis have the same coach and Burrell was hard pressed to find emotional support anywhere. "I couldn't talk to anyone about it for a year. I was very emotional about it."

His performance suffered in 1992 and he finished a disappointing fifth at the Barcelona Olympics after recording the fastest time in the semis. In 1993, still slumping, he failed to qualify for the World Championships in Stuttgart after finishing fifth in the U.S. Nationals.

It took him about two years before he felt comfortable talking about his disappointment and a few wins before he was able to regain his confidence. A win at the 1993 IAAF Grand Prix meet at Zurich, Switzerland over such athletes as Lewis, Dennis Mitchell and Linford Christie all of whom were headed for the World Championships gave him a boost of confidence, and in 1994 he reclaimed the title of world's fastest human by clocking in at 9.85 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

After that, it was slow going again, as he suffered an injured ligament in his right foot one month later forcing him to take the rest of the season off. Last year, after again not qualifying for the World Championships, Burrell was forced to take additional time off for the same injury. Explained Burrell, "It's probably best I not run the rest of the season. This whole season has been disappointing, but I'm looking to the Olympics. I gave this season my best shot and fell short of the World Championshps. Now, anything else this season is short of that level."

Among his other accomplishments to date, Burrell has broken the 100 meter world record twice, run on the teams that hold the world record for the 400 and 800 meter relay, won an Olympic relay gold, two World Championship relay golds and a Goodwill Games 100 meter gold. He also has won two national 100 meter titles. But none of this is as important as his ultimate goal - to win an Olympic gold in the 100 meters. "You can say I'm kind of like Steve Young [in Super Bowl XXIX], needing to win the Super Bowl to get the monkey off his back. I need to win the medal." After setting the world record in Switzerland, Burrell told reporters, "Some records get broken, and people say they'll last forever. Everyone thinks this one will be broken a few more times this year. I feel like I've been handed a hot piece of gold." If a healthy Leroy Burrell rises to his potential this summer, he will have a gold he can hold on to forever.