U.S. WOMEN SAIL, MEN FAIL : LEWIS IS PASSED OVER FOR SPOT AS CANADA ROLLS OVER REST OF FIELD.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Carl was out. Carl was in. Leroy was in. Leroy was out. And what about Jeff Williams?

Amid the swirl of controversy and speculation surrounding the composition of the United States' 400-meter relay team, Canadian anchor leg and 100-meter gold medalist Donovan Bailey remained quietly content.

``The USA relay team . . . (was) concerned so much with whether or not Carl Lewis would be in their team that they have forgotten that other teams were running, too,'' he said.

The Americans especially seemed to forget about Canada, the reigning world champion in the event with Bailey and respected 100 man Bruny Surin leading the way. Before the showdown Saturday night at Olympic Stadium, Canadian coaches confided that it didn't matter which quartet the U.S. selected. The neighbors to the north would handle all comers.

And they did so in historic fashion - racing to gold with the fastest time ever by a non-American team (37.69 seconds) and handing the U.S. its first-ever 400 Olympic defeat when it has not been disqualified or dropped the baton.

``Everyone assumed we'd win no matter who was running,'' American Mike Marsh said. ``To put it bluntly, we got barbecued.''

Lewis, anchor of the 1984 and 1992 gold-medal-winning 400 relay teams, was told he would not run in a meeting Friday night with captain Dennis Mitchell.

``It was a team decision,'' Mitchell said. ``It's not like we sat down and voted. Everything was done on the up and up, face to face, man to man. Carl took it like a champ.''

Was the Lewis controversy a distraction? Would the Americans have won with Lewis running for Tim Harden, as many suspected he would?

To the first, Marsh said: ``Countless variables go into this, but I do believe there were countless distractions leading up to this. It's plausible that there was an effect.''

The dynamics of the second question are highly complex - remember, Canada's margin was a whopping .36 seconds - but this much seems clear: Harden, just 22 years old, had average exchanges at both ends of his leg, and his split was .34 behind Canada's Glenroy Gilbert.

``It was my first Olympics, and it was Tim's first Olympics,'' leadoff man Jon Drummond said. ``We were just tight.''

And no matter how arrogant or abrasive Lewis may seem sometimes, there is no questioning his performances under pressure. Jesse Owens aside, Lewis is the greatest clutch performer in the history of American track, and he has nine gold medals to prove it.

However, there are several other factors to consider before depositing blame on Harden and head coach Erv Hunt.

Even if Lewis had run the anchor leg - moving Mitchell to the third spot and Marsh into Harden's place - there was no guarantee Lewis would have run well or had a smooth exchange. He was last in the U.S. Trials' 100 meters, and he had not practiced with the relay team all year.

``It's better it happened this way,'' Drummond said. ``If Canada had beaten Carl, everyone would have blamed Carl.''

Also, Harden wasn't the only American to run poorly. With Bailey as the anchor, it was imperative the U.S. have a lead entering the final leg. But Drummond was only slightly faster than Canada's Robert Esmie (10.37 to 10.47), and the exchange between Drummond and Harden - between all the U.S. runners, in fact - was poor.

``We could have stretched it out a bit more at the exchanges,'' Drummond said. ``But we wanted to get the stick around the track safely. We've dropped the stick in the past, so we were all a little cautious.''

Nor did Marsh run particularly well. The U.S. team's most-experienced Olympian was .24 behind Surin when they began the third leg, and he lost .02 seconds in addition to the slow exchange with Harden.

The U.S. was well behind when Mitchell finally received the baton from Marsh. He ran well (9.05), but was no match for the blazing Bailey, who raced home in 8.95 seconds.

Even if the U.S. had been even with Canada entering the final segment, could the 35-year-old Lewis have kept pace with the brilliant Bailey, who last weekend set a 100-meter world record?

``I knew Carl wouldn't show up,'' Bailey said. ``Carl's a businessman. He wants to stay golden, and he knew there was no gold available.''

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Photo

Photo: Dennis Mitchell, center, takes the baton from Mike M arsh but the U.S. 400-meter relay team is on its way to a second-place finish.

Associated Press