Regina Jacobs thought she was set to run the 1,500 meters at the Olympics after winning that event at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials last Sunday.
Her husband and coach, Tom Craig, said Jacobs could run the 5,000 instead after she won that race at the Olympic trials Friday.
That was a surprise to Jacobs, even if she had just broken her U.S. record for the 5,000 with a winning time of 14 minutes 45.35 seconds. She set the old mark of 14:52.49 in 1998.
"There goes our marital bliss," she said. "I'm going to have to call the hotel and have our keys changed. There obviously are going to be many days of discussion."
Craig wants to wait at least until a 3,000-meter race Aug. 11 in Zurich to make a decision. Jacobs expects to meet the world's top 5,000 runners, including Gabriela Szabo of Romania, Gete Wami of Ethiopia and Sonia O'Sullivan of Ireland, in that race.
The only sure thing is that Jacobs will not double in the 5,000, which comes first on the Olympic schedule, and the 1,500.
"We have made a covenant," Craig said, "not to covet things out of our reach, not to get greedy, not to risk a possible medal in the 1,500. After this, though, she could do the 5,000 if some of the other players get shaky."
Jacobs has won consecutive world-championship silver medals in the 1,500 but has "unfinished business" in the Olympic 1,500, which she has run three times. Each one has been an improvement: 11th in a preliminary heat in 1988, 12th in the semifinals in 1992, 10th in the final in 1996.
"I have been trying to get a medal in the 1,500 for many many years," Jacobs said. "If I could get a medal of any color and break Mary Slaney's record, you would see me speechless for the first time."
At 37, with a bachelor's degree from Stanford and a master's in business administration from Cal-Berkeley, Jacobs has begun dominating a range of distances on the U.S. scene the way Slaney did for more than a decade.
"One of the most incredible things is not the longevity or the improved performances but the lack of injury," Jacobs said.
Jacobs has had a top 10 U.S. ranking in at least one event for 13 of the last 15 seasons. This season she has a U.S. leading time in the 800 and has won the trials in both the 1,500 and 5,000, joining Marion Jones as the only double winners here.
Ancient hammerers: Lance Deal, 38, and Jud Logan, 41, were 1-3 in the men's hammer Friday night. "When I was growing up, Lance and Jud were my heroes," said runner-up Kevin McMahon, 28.
Notes: Reigning NCAA champion Tom Pappas, 23, of the University of Tennessee, upset favored Chris Huffins in the decathlon Friday. Huffins had won a bronze medal at the 1999 world championships. ... Connie Price-Smith, 38, won her 11th outdoor shot put title (the trials also count as the U.S. championship) to make a fourth Olympic team.