Olga Bondarenko

In the first women's Olympic 10,000-meter race, the Soviet Union's Olga Bondarenko used a brilliant strategy and her superior speed to beat Great Britain's Liz Lynch McColgan to win the gold medal. Norway's Ingrid Kristiansen, the world record-holder and the 1987 world champion, was the leader until she stepped off the track 1 1/2 miles into the race with a injured right foot. She was carried off the field on a stretcher.

In the first women's Olympic 10,000-meter race, the Soviet Union's Olga Bondarenko used a brilliant strategy and her superior speed to beat Great Britain's Liz Lynch McColgan to win the gold medal. Norway's Ingrid Kristiansen, the world record-holder and the 1987 world champion, was the leader until she stepped off the track 1 1/2 miles into the race with a injured right foot. She was carried off the field on a stretcher.

With no one to push her and finding it hard to concentrate in a noisy arena, South African-born Zola Budd set a world indoor best of 8 minutes 39.79 seconds in the women's 3,000 meters Saturday. Running for Britain in a meet against Hungary, the barefoot 19-year-old knocked more than 2 1/2 seconds off the previous mark of 8:42.3, set by Olga Bondarenko of the Soviet Union last month in her homeland.

Marita Koch of East Germany regained the world record in the women's 400-meter dash Sunday with a blazing time of 47.60 seconds on the final day of the World Cup track and field meet. Koch's time bettered the previous record of 47.99 held by Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia. Koch, 28, had set the mark in 1982 but lost it to Kratochvilova a year later.

Fatima Whitbread of Britain set a world record in the women's javelin, and Sebastian Coe won his first major outdoor 800-meter title Thursday in the European Track and Field Championships. Whitbread, 25, threw the javelin 254 feet 1 inch during qualifying, breaking the mark of 247-4 set last year by East German Petra Felke. "I felt really fit, cool and confident," Whitbread said. Coe, expected to battle Steve Cram, instead edged a third Briton, Tom McKean, in 1:44.50. Cram was third.

Distance runner Zola Budd is quietly preparing for another outdoor season, hoping for more dazzling performances amid continuing debate over her status as an international athlete. Budd, known for her barefoot running style, makes her outdoor season debut today when she defends her World Cross-Country title in Neuchatel, Switzerland. She gave notice of her form last month when she posted an indoor world best for the women's 3,000 meters while running for Britain against Hungary at Cosford.

Zola Budd has grown up and become a star. Gone is the shy young woman, hurried from the trackside after every race by coach Pieter Labuschagne, who was loath to answer even the simplest questions. Instead, Budd has returned from winter training in her native South Africa a confident young woman with a steely-eyed determination to sweep all before her. She has certainly started the year in style, clocking a world indoor best over 3,000 meters and retaining her world cross-country championship.

Seems that Steve Scott, whose name has been synonymous with the Carlsbad 5,000 road race over the past three years, is having to share the attention this time around. Scott, the three-time champion, could find himself nudged out of the glow of the spotlight by any one of a number of stars in the men's field--or by three Soviet women. One, Olga Bondarenko, won a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games, setting a world track 10,000-meter record of 31:05.21.

Steve Cram of Britain lowered the world record for the mile by more than a full second with a time of 3 minutes 46.31 seconds in the final event of the Bislett Games track and field meet Saturday night. It was Cram's second world record in 11 days. On July 16, he set a 1,500-meter record of 3:29.67 at Nice, France. Jose-Luis Gonzalez of Spain was the runner-up Saturday in 3:47.79 in the third world-record race within an hour on the fast Bislett Stadium track.

ARCHERY MEN INDIVIDUAL: Gold--Jay Barrs (Mesa, Ariz.). Silver--Park Sung Soo (South Korea). Bronze--Vladimir Echeev (Soviet Union). TEAM: Gold--South Korea (Chun In Soo, Lee Han Sup, Park Sung Soo). Silver--United States (Jay Barrs, Mesa, Ariz.; Richard McKinney, Gilbert, Ariz.; Darrell Pace, Hamilton, Ohio). Bronze--Britain (Steven Hallard, Richard Priestman, Leroy Watson) WOMEN INDIVIDUAL: Gold--Kim Soo Nyung (South Korea), Silver--Wang Hee Kyung (South Korea).