A Minus Equals a Plus for Greene

Although the rest of the track and field world might have felt as if it had taken a punch to the stomach when Michael Johnson withdrew two days before Sunday’s 200-meter final in the U.S. track and field championships, Emanuel Hudson did not.

The manager of the HSI (Handle Speed Intelligently) club said he saw it coming three weeks ago.

“Remember Johnny Carson, the Amazing Kreskin character, when he held up that envelope to his head?” Hudson said. “I held up an envelope to my head and it told me there was no way Michael Johnson was going to run the 200.

“I’m Kreskin, Jack.”

He meant Carnak the Magnificent, Jack.

But you get the point.

“How unfortunate could that guy be?” Hudson said, more pointedly. “Every time a 200 comes, something happens.”

In this case, it was a strained leg muscle suffered in a workout Thursday that caused Johnson to announce 24 hours later he was going home to Texas to recover, removing the world record-holder in the 200 from a race here against the world record-holder in the 100 (and Hudson client), Maurice Greene.

Greene didn’t enter Friday’s 100 because he had secured an automatic invitation to this summer’s World Championships in Seville, Spain, as defending champion. But Craig Masback, executive director of USA Track & Field, said last week he was not in the least bit disappointed in anticipation of the 200. USATF even altered the schedule to position the men’s 200 as the climactic event of CBS’s national television coverage Sunday.

“I’d rather see Maurice face Michael any day than run the 100,” Masback said. “One of the problems in this sport is that we can’t get the best to face each other. Now we’ve got the fastest ever in the 100 against the fastest ever in the 200.”

Not so fast.

Gary Hopkins, vice president of USATF’s marketing firm, Advantage International, warned last week that track and field in this country has made a mistake in the past by relying too much on one or two high-profile athletes, causing the public--and corporate America--to turn off when those athletes, as too often occurs, can’t or won’t participate in a meet.

But here’s the good news. Without Johnson, the 8,913 fans at the University of Oregon’s Hayward Field on Sunday and CBS’s television audience were forced to concentrate on the athletes who were there. If Hopkins can’t sell the sport the next time he enters a corporate boardroom, don’t blame them.

Jeff Hartwig, who shares his Jonesboro, Ark., home with a wife, 74 snakes, three lizards and two turtles, broke his own American record in the pole vault by becoming the second man to clear 19 feet 9 inches on U.S. soil. The other is Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka. Hartwig then made three unsuccessful attempts at joining Bubka as the only man to clear 20 feet.

John Godina, the former UCLA thrower who finished second in Saturday’s discus throw, won the shotput with the longest heave by any man in the world in two years, 72-3. He also had puts of 71-8 1/4 and 70-9.

Gail Devers, another former Bruin, won the 100-meter high hurdles in 12.54, and Mark Crear, a former USC Trojan, upset world champion Allen Johnson in the 110 high hurdles in 13.09.

Regina Jacobs, an L.A. native who went to high school in North Hollywood, became the first woman in the national championships to double in the 1,500 and 5,000, winning the latter Sunday in 15 minutes 24.80 seconds.

Marion Jones, the sport’s female athlete of the year in 1998 from Thousand Oaks, suffered a rare loss Friday, finishing second in the long jump, but returned Sunday to win the 200 in 22.10.

By the time the gun went off in the men’s 200, the only person who still missed Michael Johnson was Greene.

Two years ago, Greene hooked Canada’s Donovan Bailey by winning the world championship in the 100. Less than two weeks ago, Greene reeled in Bailey by eclipsing his world record in the event with a time of 9.79 in Athens, Greece.

Then Greene went in search of an even bigger fish, Johnson in the 200.

Whether Johnson is as eager to meet Greene is debatable. Hudson insisted he didn’t mean to imply that Johnson was avoiding Greene, although Johnson opened the door for speculation by predicting he would be recovered in time to start his more lucrative European season this week.

It’s also clear that he’s not ready to run as fast as Greene. There’s no upside in challenging him, especially if Johnson is injured, until later in the summer. Hudson would call it handling speed intelligently.

As for Greene, he said, “I’m not worried about Michael Johnson. I only worry about how to run my race. I’m here to win and I still have that plan whether or not Michael is in the race.” He did win, although not with his A race.

After stumbling out of the blocks and almost falling, running the curve from the middle of his lane instead of the inside and failing to maintain his speed through the finish line, he gave himself a B-minus.

“It would have helped him a great deal if Michael had been in the race,” John Smith, Greene’s trainer, said. “When you plan for a big race and it doesn’t happen, there’s a letdown.”

Greene still might have sent a message to Johnson with a wind-aided time of 19.93. Greene might also have sent a message to himself.

He’s still on a victory lap after setting the world record in the 100 meters, having accepted invitations to appear this week on “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Today Show.”

“When you’re riding that high, sometimes you have to be brought down to earth with a little scare,” Smith said. “It’s time to get back to basics. This is only the beginning of the season. We’ll celebrate at the end.”

Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com