SUMMER GAMES SPOTLIGHT : BARCELONA ’92 OLYMPICS / DAY 13 : AS IF BY MAGIC, JOHNSON’S ON TEAM

Michael Johnson will run with the U.S. 1,600-meter relay team.

After attributing a shockingly poor performance in Wednesday’s 200-meter qualifying to a virus, Johnson left himself open to speculation that he would withdraw--or be removed--from the relay before today’s preliminary round.

But not only will Johnson be joining Andrew Valmon, Darnell Hall and Chip Jenkins, he was assigned by Coach Mel Rosen to run the anchor leg.

Should the team qualify, as expected, for Saturday’s final, Rosen will revise the running order to include 400-meter gold and silver medalists Quincy Watts and Steve Lewis.

Several teammates, Lewis in particular, strenuously objected to Johnson’s being part of their relay even before Johnson’s flop in the 200.

Because Johnson did not enter the 400 meters at the U.S. trials, some believed he did not belong in the relay. Rosen, however, dropped Valmon to make room for Johnson, then had room for both after an injury eliminated original relay member Danny Everett.

The top-ranked 200 and 400 runner in the world, Johnson was entered in the Olympics individually only in the 200.

Afterward, Johnson said: “I still want to run the relay if the coaches still want me to run it. The decision is up to them. That’s why we have coaches.”

By Thursday, however, Johnson reportedly expressed second thoughts. Rosen persuaded him to give the relay a try, at least for the first day.

This a daily roundup of Olympic-related items from reporters in Barcelona from the Los Angeles Times, Newsday and Baltimore Sun, all Times-Mirror newspapers.