TRACK & FIELD : LEWIS ISN'T LETTING GO OF THE TRACK SPOTLIGHT.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Dan O'Brien moved halfway to gold. Sergey Bubka bombed. Distance king Haile Gebrselassie bailed and Gail Devers didn't double, but the talk of the Olympic track meet on Wednesday remained Carl Lewis.

For two days Lewis has talked about Lewis - and why he should run the anchor leg of the United States' 400-meter relay.

Carl has talked to Nike. Carl has talked to reporters. Carl has talked on television. He even asked fans to call U.S. Olympic officials and request his immediate assignment to the anchor position - as if the whole thing were a 100-meter, gold-plated charity drive.

His motive is this: Regardless who runs, the U.S. team is a heavy favorite, and a gold medal would give Lewis his 10th, an Olympic record. Plus, he is considered the greatest anchor man in American relay history and has reminded everyone of the fabulous jobs he did in Los Angeles and Barcelona, when the Americans set world records.

But Lewis finished last in the 100 meters at the Olympic Trials a month ago, and U.S. coach Erv Hunt picked the four sprinters he felt had earned the opportunity by finishing ahead of Lewis: Dennis Mitchell, Mike Marsh, Leroy Burrell - each of whom ran with Lewis in Barcelona - and Jon Drummond.

Hunt then told Lewis that if he wanted to be considered, he should attend a relay practice in Chapel Hill, N.C.

Lewis passed, and that was that until he won the long jump Monday night and started the self-promotion machine - as if being able to jump the farthest meant he could suddenly run faster than the men who beat him a month ago.

``We had a policy where you had to be at camp,'' Hunt said. ``At that particular time, Lewis said he was not interested in the camp or the (qualifying) rounds. He said he was only interested in the finals.

``We had practice (Tuesday) and (Wednesday), and I haven't seen Carl Lewis.''

Hunt said Lewis' only chance was ``if someone got injured.''

But few would be surprised if one of Lewis' buddies, Marsh or Burrell, claim a last-minute injury and withdraw. Or if they step aside out of the goodness of their hearts. Or if NBC pressures the USOC to get King Carl on its Saturday night prime-time telecasts.

It seems everyone has an opinion, including Lewis's chief rival for NBC's cameras, Michael Johnson.

``He has more experience than the other four runners put together,'' Johnson said. ``I'd put him on.''

O'Brien, one of the Games' most sympathetic characters after his 1992 Olympic Trials pole-vault debacle, holds a 124-point lead over German Frank Busemann after five events.

``You know, actually, I fought all day to forget it was an Olympic Games,'' he said. ``When I thought about the Olympic Games and trying to win the gold, it was just overwhelming. ``The anxiety of the Olympic Games was a little more than I could handle.''

The stadium's Mondo track was more than Gebrselassie's feet could handle. The 10,000-meter champion withdrew from the 5,000, where he was the overwhelming favorite (and current world-record holder). After the 10,000, the Ethiopian star complained that the hard track made his feet hurt.

There will be a surprise winner in the pole vault, too. The favorites, Bubka and South Africa's Okkert Brits, failed to qualify.

``It is like a bad dream,'' said Bubka, the 1988 gold medalist.