1986 MEN'S FINAL

Controversy, upsets, close competition, and a down-to-the-wire finish all added up to make the 1986 Final as the best Superstars final ever. The top three finishers from the 1982 finals and three of the top four finishers from the 1985 final were among the field of eleven athletes. In the first event, volleyball Olympic champ Dusty Dvorak defeated three-time Superstars champion Renaldo Nehimiah in a hotly contested 7-5 tennis final. The second event was swimming, and this was the first little bit of controversy. In the swimming heats, defending Superstars champion Mark Gastineau has seemed to get a false start. In the swimming final, Gastineau again jumped the gun and this time the false start was called, the problem was that of the five swimming finalists, only Roger Craig heard the second gun. The other four finalists all swam 50 yards and completed the race, only to have to race again. Craig opted out of the re-race and the other four finished in the exact same order as the original race, but much more fatigued.

The next event provided the biggest upset in Superstars history. Mark Gastineau has set the record in the weight lifting of 327.5 pounds in 1985 and in seven previous Superstars events Gastineau had never lost the weight lifting. However, evidently fatigued by having to swim the 50 yard swim three times, Gastineau could not lift 300 pounds. Miami Dolphin wide receiver Mark Clayton, all of 173 pounds lifted 305 pounds and Roger Craig, who had opted out of the swimming re-race lifted 310 pounds to win the event.

St. Louis Cardinal outfielder Vince Coleman made a move on the leaders by finishing second in bowling and winning the closest to the pin in the golf. Dvorak won the bowling, but could not muster any points in the golf. Gastineau finished third in golf to move within two points of Dvorak.

Gastineau rebounded to win the rowing easily, but another controversy reared its head. In their preliminary heat, Dusty Dvorak evidently beat Chicago Bears wide receiver Willie Gault by .02 seconds. Gault felt he had beaten Dvorak and filed a protest over the decision. Superstars commissioner Bud Wilkinson viewed the videotape and declared the race between Gault and Dvorak a dead heat. Dvorak's time was third best in the heats, so it was decided to add Gault as a fourth finalist in the rowing. Gault finished ahead of Dvorak to take third place in the rowing.

The events switched to the track and the bike race was up first. Neither Gastineau nor Dvorak qualified for the bike final. Renaldo Nehimiah had only seven points entering the bike race. Nehimiah took control of a very fast bike final, finishing first just 0.4 seconds behind the Superstars record. Fulton Walker finshed second to move into thrid place overall. James Lofton, out of the overall competition, won the half mile easily as Carl Lewis and Willie Gault sprinted past Renaldo Nehimiah to finish second and third.

The 100 yard dash produced another controversy. James Lofton jumped the gun and Willie Gault and Renaldo Nehimiah both crossed the finish line, turned around and yelled "false start." After reviewing the videotape, it was decided that Lofton did get a false start, Mark Clayton who had finished last in the first race, opted out of the re-race. When the race was one, Nehimiah finished ahead of Lofton to nab third place and pick up an additional two points.

Entering the obstacle course, six athletes still had a chance to win the overall competition. The standings were: 1. Dvorak 27, 2. Gastineau 25, 3. 3. Coleman 24, 4. Nehimiah 23, 5. Craig, Walker & Gault 21, 8. Lewis 20. Dvorak, Gastineau and Craig were not entered in the obstacle course, although Dvorak still had a chance, but he really needed for Clayton and Lofton to reach the obstacle course final. Clayton was up first, he sped through the course, but knocked over the high bar to incur a five-second penalty. His time of 21.47 was very fast, but the penalty knocked him out of the spoilers role. Then, each of the other five took their shot at the obstacle course. Carl Lewis tried to scale the wall without using the rope and slipped, his time of 23.94 was still fast, but shaky. Fulton Walker finished behind Lewis in a time of 27.20, eliminting him contention. The next head pitted Lofton against Gault. Gault was quick, but his steps were off and he could not hurdle the high bar. His time of 23.52 was fastest with just one heat left with Lewis in second. The final heat pitted Nehimiah against Coleman. Nehimiah sprinted past Coleman on the hurdles in a time of 22.52 to qualify for the final. Nehimiah said, "but I still have to beat Willie Gault." He was wrong, Coleman had fallen over the last hurdle but crawled across the finish line in a time of 23.17 to qualify for the final against Nehimiah. For the first time, the obstacle course final winner would win the overall title. Coleman slipped on the wall and never challenged Nehimiah who went on to win his record fourth title.

Miami Beach & Key Biscayne, Florida

April 20, 1986

Announcers:Don Criqui, Bruce Jenner, Ahmad Rashad.

PLC. NAME, SPORT	TEN	TEN	WL	BOWL	ROW	GOLF	BIKE	HALF	100	OC	TOTAL	MONEY
1. Renaldo Nehimiah, Football	7	-	-	0	-	0	10	2	4	10	33	$18,300
2. Vince Coleman, Baseball	0	0	-	7	-	10	0	-	7	7	31	$13,100
3. Dusty Dvorak, Volleyball	10	4	-	10	2	0	0	1	-	-	27	$7,700
4. Mark Gastineau, Football	-	7	4	0	10	4	0	-	0	-	25	$2,500
4. Willie Gault, Football	3	-	-	0	4	0	-	4	10	4	25	$2,500
6. Carl Lewis, Track & Field	3	2	-	2	-	2	4	7	-	2	22	$2,200
7. Roger Craig, Football	0	1	10	0	7	1	2	-	-	-	21	$2,100
7. Fulton Walker, Football	0	-	2	4	1	7	7	-	-	0	21	$2,100
9. James Lofton, Football	-	0	1	-	-	0	1	10	2	1	15	$1,500
10. Greg Louganis, Diving	1	10	-	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	11	$1,100
11. Mark Clayton, Football	-	-	7	1	0	0	0	-	1	0	9	$900

INDIVIDUAL EVENT RESULTS

SWIMMING (50 Yards) - heat 1

1. Greg Louganis	23.61
2. Carl Lewis	29.27
3. Roger Craig	31.03

SWIMMING (50 Yards) - heat 2

1. Mark Gastineau	27.23
2. Dusty Dvorak	27.82
3. Vince Coleman	32.55
4. James Lofton	32.83

TENNIS

1. Dusty Dvorak	10
2. Renaldo Nehimiah	7
3. Willie Gault	3
3. Carl Lewis	3
5. Greg Louganis	1
Roger Craig	0
Fulton Walker	0
Vince Coleman	0
Nehimiah def. Lewis	N/A
Dvorak def. Coleman	N/A
Dvorak def. Gault	N/A
Dvorak def. Nehimiah	7-5

SWIMMING (50 Yards) - final

1. Greg Louganis	23.62
2. Mark Gastineau	26.50
3. Dusty Dvorak	27.60
4. Carl Lewis	29.42
5. Roger Craig	DNS

WEIGHT LIFTING

1. Roger Craig	310
2. Mark Clayton	305
3. Mark Gastineau	290
4. Fulton Walker	280
5. James Lofton	270

BOWLING - qualifying

1. Vince Coleman	203
2. Fulton Walker	170
3. Dusty Dvorak	159
4. Mark Clayton	151
5. Carl Lewis	151

BOWLING - step ladder finals

Lewis def. Clayton	69-47
Dvorak def. Lewis	49-35
Dvorak def. Walker	48-44
Dvorak def. Coleman	55-37

ROWING

1. Mark Gastineau	34.53	32.84
2. Roger Craig	34.08	N/A
3. Willie Gault	34.80	34.99
4. Dusty Dvorak	34.78	35.05
5. Fulton Walker	40.09
6. Greg Louganis	41.29
7. Mark Clayton	N/A

GOLF- closest to the pin

1. Vince Coleman	9' 5"
2. Fulton Walker	N/A
3. Mark Gastineau	55' 9"
4. Carl Lewis	N/A
5. Roger Craig	N/A
6. Dusty Dvorak	67' 7"
Renaldo Nehimiah	N/A
James Lofton	N/A
Greg Louganis	N/A
Willie Gault	N/A
Mark Clayton	N/A

BIKE RACE-heats (Quarter Mile)

1. Renaldo Nehimiah	34.13
2. James Lofton	34.58
3. Roger Craig	34.97
4. Fulton Walker	35.31
5. Carl Lewis	35.36

BIKE RACE-final (Half Mile)

1. Renaldo Nehimiah	1:10.58
2. Fulton Walker	1:10.8e
3. Carl Lewis	1:11.35
4. Roger Craig	1:11.5e
5. James Lofton	1:13.5e

HALF MILE RUN

1. James Lofton	2:03.83
2. Carl Lewis	2:16.95
3. Willie Gault	2:17.0e
4. Renaldo Nehimiah	2:18.3e
5. Dusty Dvorak	2:18.4e

100 YARD DASH-final

1. Willie Gault	9.83
2. Vince Coleman	10.09
3. Renaldo Nehimiah	10.17
4. James Lofton	10.3e
5. Mark Clayton	DNS
6. Mark Gastineau	DNS

OBSTACLE COURSE

1. Renaldo Nehimiah	22.52		22.52	24.07
2. Vince Coleman	23.17		23.17	N/A
3. Willie Gault	23.52		23.52
4. Carl Lewis	23.94		23.94
5. James Lofton	25.31		25.31
6. Mark Clayton	21.47	HB	26.47
7. Fulton Walker	27.20		27.20
8. Greg Louganis	29.90		29.90

e = estimated time

r = Superstars record

N/A = result not available

dnf - did not finish

HOME