T.O.'S JONES NOT TOO WILD OVER ENTRIES.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

The top names in American track and field are competing here in the World Outdoor Championships.

And not all of their teammates are thrilled about it.

Michael Johnson, Gwen Torrence and Gail Devers failed to qualify for this event, but the International Amateur Athletic Federation, the sport's governing body, has approved ``wild-card'' berths for defending world champions.

``I think you should earn a spot on the team by competing at nationals,'' said Marion Jones, the Thousand Oaks native who won both the women's 100 and long jump at the national championships this year.

``All of these athletes have put in many months of training. Everybody deserves a chance and to take that chance from any athlete is disheartening. You have to think about those athletes who took fourth, fifth and sixth and the experience that would be taken away from them.''

Johnson, the 1995 world 400-meter champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist in the 200 and 400, did not compete in the national championships in Indianapolis in June because of a strained left quadriceps suffered in his 150-meter race against Donovan Bailey.

``This is good for the IAAF,'' Johnson said. ``It gives them a guarantee, there is going to be a good field in each event - the best possible field with the defending champions. It is good for the sponsors of the IAAF, good for the sponsors of the athletes and good for television networks who ensure the viewers get to see the great athletes out there.''

Torrence, a 1996 gold medalist in the 400-meter relay, skipped the national championship meet to nurse an injury. Devers, the 1993 world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, was scratched from the 100-meter final in the national championships complaining of a sore calf.

The top three finishers in each event in Indianapolis qualified for the U.S. team that is competing here for the next 10 days.

Jones easily won the 100 in Indianapolis in the absence of Devers and Torrence. By defeating eight-time national champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee in the long jump, she became the first female athlete to win both events since 1988.

Jones, 21, said wild-card berths deprive athletes who finished in the fourth through eighth positions of an opportunity in the relays.

Torrence is scheduled to run only in the 100. But American coaches Dean Hayes and Gary Winckler have placed Devers in the U.S. 400-meter-relay pool for Athens while fourth-place Carlette Guidry and seventh-place Sabrina Kelly have been left off. Butch Reynolds, the world-record holder in the 400 meters, has similar concerns about his status in the 1,600-meter relay.

Reynolds finished sixth in the 400 in the U.S. championships to earn a place among nine athletes for the U.S. pool for the 1,600-meter relay. A spot on the U.S. team for the final might be jeopardized with the addition of Johnson.

``The sport will go on with or without Michael being there,'' Reynolds said. ``There is plenty of the sport to go around. I don't think you should change the sport for them.''

The IAAF ruling has permitted countries to have four athletes in an event for the first time. In addition to the defending champion, countries are also allowed to enter three athletes in each event.

The decision has enabled Mark Crear of Valencia, the 1996 Olympic silver medalist in the 110-meter high hurdles, and John Godina, the 1995 NCAA shot put and discus champion at UCLA, to compete in Athens.

The IAAF move also has opened the door for Jonathan Edwards of Great Britain, the world-record holder in the triple jump, to defend his world championship despite missing the British championships because of a heel injury.

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PHOTO Michael Johnson did not qualify for the world championships but was granted a wild-card entry.

Daily News File Photo