He's A Man To Beat Dead Horse

On the fourth lap Treacy gained another two seconds, and he was clearly out of reach. Behind the glassed VIP stand, where dignitaries had sat through the early going calmly sipping Irish Mist, the celebration was such that the windows steamed over. In her ecstasy, one middle-aged matron, who was sitting not far from International Olympic Committee President Lord Killanin, elbowed one of the sizable panes out of its frame, crying, "That's for Ireland !"

Ever more demented hosts ran upon the course. "The crowd scared me at the end," said Treacy. "I didn't know what would happen. I was afraid I'd be trod on." The scene at the finish could only have taken place in a small and rather poor and fiercely proud country, that pride not having been much tempered by athletic success in recent years. The men roaring and the men crying were in about equal proportion. Treacy turned into the last 150 yards and raised his arms as if to plead for quiet. If anything, the gesture had the reverse effect.

Across the line was Treacy's father, Jack, a grocer, who had jumped a hedge and was waiting to greet him. He never got close. Three steps after he had won, in 37:20, the younger Treacy was seized by the police, carried through a cordon of guards, thrust over a gate and into an ambulance that took him to a nearby jockeys' shed where he was rushed down some stairs to the doping test. Outside, the singing carried on as 37-year-old marathoner Danny McDaid, a letter carrier and sheep farmer from Donegal, ran the race of his life to come in 11th and assure Ireland a second-place team finish. It was the first time for Ireland to finish in the top three since 1927.

"You could live a hundred years and not feel as proud again!" called one official to another. U.S. women's coach Chris Murray of Iowa State was wet-eyed. "I've never been to an event with this emotion," he said. "You could feel it. Today John Treacy was Ireland ."

It was the second time that afternoon that Murray had cried, the first being when his women had swept to the team championship over a formidable group of Soviets. They were helped, indirectly, by the magnificent individual performance of Norway 's Grete Waitz , the world-record holder in the marathon and, without question, the finest female cross-country runner of all time. Soon after the start—a sparkling assemblage of bright silks and shoes thrown blithely into the mud—Waitz ran strongly ahead. The Soviet women, including European 3,000-meter champion Svetlana Ulmasova, went with her, while the U.S. women started modestly. "I felt as if I were running dead last," said Ellison Goodall, a medical student at the University of North Carolina . If this wasn't exactly according to plan, it was to be expected, because, as Murray pointed out, the Soviets were accomplished at the shorter track distances of 1,500 and 3,000 meters, while the Americans, thanks to the distance-running boom of the past few years, were more experienced at 10,000 meters.

Over 5,040 meters of heavy turf, it was U.S.S.R. speed against American strength, and once Waitz had exhausted the Soviets and pulled away, the Americans went to work, led first by Jan Merrill , then by the astonishing Goodall, who, although she is the AAU 10,000-meter champion, had never run on a team of any kind before. Diminutive and with a quick, light stride, she dodged through the field until at the rise of Dead Horse Hill on the final lap she reached second place, though still far behind Waitz, who would win by 26 seconds in 16:48. "The mud made it feel like I was mashing grapes for a while," said Goodall, who had come to Ireland as an alternate, taking the place of the injured Kathy Mills. "I just didn't want to be an embarrassment for the team."

At the end, speed told once more, and Raisa Smekhnova outsprinted Goodall for second. Merrill finished seventh and one place behind her came Julie Shea of North Carolina State . In 11th was Margaret Groos of the University of Virginia . The U.S. ' 29 points easily beat the U.S.S.R. 's 48 and England 's 68. Even though they were world champions, Shea and Groos thought they might have done better. "I just seemed to get stuck in one place and couldn't get out of it," said Groos, echoing the sensation experienced by Shea and anyone who has ever run across a plowed field.

Murray had stressed team loyalties as essential to good cross-country running, saying, "If you have a team concept, you don't lose hope just because you're not winning the individual race. Every place counts." Even Merrill 's contentious coach, Norm Higgins , was enthusiastic over the job Murray had done. "He should be named national coach for the next three years," said Higgins . For her part, Merrill thought the trip had taught her a few things about Higgins . "He is Irish and this week I've met more people like him," she said. "There are no street signs here so they tell you to 'go down around that church and then through the square and to the dead tree and then back here.' I always wondered how he got that."

At length, John Treacy was released from the protection of the Irish police, but before his poor father could get to him the press crowded around. Wrapped in a blanket and still carrying a look of faint alarm, he patiently described the race, saying it was easier this year than last because breaking away early let him relax. On the pressure of being a favorite son, he said in a tone almost of wonder, "I don't react to that kind of pressure." Neither had the mad cheers lifted him. "The people on the field were a distraction," he said. There was a groan when he revealed he would be flying back to Providence the next morning. "No triumphant return to your own village?" wailed one promoter. "No, just a quiet night with my family," said Treacy with relief, rightly anticipating any larger Irish celebration as ruinous. Finally his father was allowed to reach Treacy, and was in turn besieged by questioners.

The mob of reporters shifted slightly, allowing Treacy to spot Amato, standing to one side. The runner's spikes clattered on the cement floor as he made his way to his coach. As the two men embraced, Treacy's eyes finally lost their wary alertness. Both men's faces had the same expression, a look of immense satisfaction and thanks, the love of a great victory shared.