Goldengirl

They had covered more than half the distance, and the symmetry was threatened by two girls in lanes 4 and 5 edging ahead — a Russian and a British girl. Goldine, in lane 2, was in the pack with the rest. The first four would qualify for the Final.

‘It looks bad,’ said Melody gratuitously.

‘It’s the angle,’ responded Dryden, hoping it was.

The roar that greeted the Russian victory was worthy of the Final. The Soviet girl was overcome, covering her eyes as officials crowded around her.

Goldine had crossed at least two metres behind, third or fourth. Mary-Lou Devine was out.

The time was flashed on the scoreboard: a new Soviet Record.

‘How do you read that?’ asked Melody.

He didn’t answer. He was training the glasses on Goldine. She was walking back to the start with the British girl. Muratova was besieged by pressmen. The others couldn’t get near to make the token touch of congratulation.

‘Playing possum?’ suggested Melody.

‘She does have a four 100-metre heat to run before the Final. The object was to qualify, and she did.’

On the track, the next set of girls were already testing their blocks.

‘This could be instructive,’ said Dryden. ‘Krüll is taking on the Cuban girl who beat Goldine in the heats yesterday.’

A small section of the crowd was chanting ‘Ur-su-la.’ Their idol ignored them, ignored the girls lining up beside her, the photographers positioned to capture the start.

The chanting stopped as the eight got into the crouch position. The gun cracked.

A fraction over ten seconds later, Krüll crossed the line emphatically clear of the rest, eased to a trot, corrected the coverage of her shorts, waved away photographers and jogged smartly back to the start. Before she reached there, the scoreboard flashed the news that for the third time she had improved the Olympic Record. The latest — 10.83 — made the Russian girl’s time look ordinary, Goldine’s pedestrian.

‘Wishing you could change your meal ticket?’ Melody asked.

It was not long till the 400-metre First Round heats. They noticed two late substitutions: Canute, J. (U.S.A.) replaced Jones (U.S.A.) in Heat One; Krüll, U. (G.D.R.) replaced Muller (G.D.R.) in Heat Six.

‘So Janie Canute gets her chance, after all,’ said Melody. ‘How did she manage that? The power of prayer?’

‘Didn’t you hear? Jones came down with glandular fever a week ago. She didn’t make the trip. What interests me is that Krüll has come in. I heard the Germans were considering this, but it’s a hell of a gamble when she hasn’t trained for three events.’

‘How do you know she hasn’t?’ asked Melody. ‘Wouldn’t it be typical of the Commies to train her in secret and then spring this at the last moment? They could figure it’s a way of psyching Goldengirl.’

‘Equally, Goldine could have psyched them by holding herself back in the heats of the one hundred. The Germans could believe Krüll has the sprints so buttoned up it won’t hurt to take in the four hundred as well.’

Melody shook her head. ‘That’s not the way Germans think. They’re methodical. They don’t gamble.’

‘The coaches might not,’ said Dryden, ‘but politicians would. If those people saw a chance of proving their system produced a super-woman, do you think they’d pass it up? Krüll is the prestige vehicle of an ideology. She’s running in the name of Marx and Lenin. Since she’s running well, those ideologues can put enormous pressure on the coaches to try her for the triple. What do they care if she’s a spent husk at the end of it?’

‘You wouldn’t, by any chance, be justifying anything to yourself?’ said Melody without looking at him.

The heats of the 400 metres resolved none of the speculation. Goldine qualified in second place in Heat Three, cruising through easily in slow time. Ursula Krüll, too, ran well within herself in her race, third in a marginally faster time. The fastest qualifier of the round was Janie Canute, with 51.02 secs.

In the next hour, Dryden twice approached the covered warmup area below the stand in hope of contacting Goldine, but security guards intercepted him. The only consolation was that if he couldn’t get through, neither could Esselstyn.

In the arena the Finals of the men’s 800 metres and 400-metre-hurdles came and went, and a protracted struggle developed between the Swedish and West German pole-vaulters. Many of the crowd seemed disengaged from what was happening, waiting only for the last event of the day, the women’s 100-metre Final. Two girls, Muratova and Krüll, had beaten eleven seconds in the preliminaries, so it seemed set as a Soviet-German clash, with the rest scrapping for bronze.