First They Drag, Then They Brag

The 100-meter dash? At the U.S. Olympic trials, it’s more a rush. The runners dig in, the gun cracks, the crowd roars and 10 or 11 seconds later, their work is done but the adrenaline is laboring overtime.

In order to wind down, they pop off. The feet are no longer required to move, so the jaws grab the baton and enter the drive phase, turning the postrace interview phase of Friday’s preliminary-heat competition into the event of the day.

Maurice Greene, angered by Michael Johnson’s derisive comments in a guest column for USA Today, returned serve with a 9.93-second burst out of the blocks, a swagger to the interview tent and a brash promise to “get Michael Johnson” in next weekend’s 200-meter final.

Dennis Mitchell, back in another Olympic trial final after his latest doping-related suspension, declared that he, not Greene, is the best 100-meter sprinter in the sport.

“I am the best in the world,” Mitchell said after qualifying for today’s semifinals with a time of 10.11 seconds. “I’ve been doing this thing for 15 years. Who else out there has been doing this for 15 years?”

Chryste Gaines, who won her heat with a mark of 11.14 seconds, announced she was prepared to “shock the world” by upsetting Marion Jones and Inger Miller to win today’s women’s 100-meter final.

“It’s going to take 10.8 to win the final,” Gaines said.

And is she up to that tall order? “Yeah.”

Even though she has never beaten Jones?

“There’s a first time for everything.”

Jones, who overcame a mechanical start to pull away from the pack, easily led all women qualifiers with a time of 10.92--and didn’t seem particularly concerned with Gaines or Miller or any one else who dares to qualify for today’s final.

“I feel quite capable of running faster here than I ever have,” said Jones, which would mean running faster than 10.65 seconds, which would fairly blow away the rest of the field.

“Sometimes it’s a little difficult to get up for the first round, but I think I can run faster than I have before.”

Later in the evening, Jones qualified for Sunday’s women’s long jump final with a mark of 21 feet 6 3/4 inches, fifth best of the day. Jackie Joyner-Kersee, bidding to compete in her fifth Olympic Games, also qualified for the final, with an eighth-place jump of 21-0 3/4.

Six athletes qualified for the Sydney Games Friday as the top three finishers in the men’s and women’s 10,000-meter finals. Mebrahtom Keflezighi, formerly of UCLA, won the men’s event with a time of 28 minutes 3.32 seconds, followed by Alan Culpepper (28:03.35) and Abdihakim Abdi (28.19.08).

Deena Drossin of Agoura Hills won the women’s 10,000-meter final, setting an Olympic trials record with a time of 31:51.05. Qualifying for Sydney along with Drossin were Jen Rhines (31:58.34) and 1999 U.S. champion Libbie Hickman (31:58.68).

The upset of the day was the failure of American pole vault record holder Jeff Hartwig to clear the qualifying height of 18 feet 2 inches, eliminating him from Sunday’s final. For Hartwig, who set the U.S. mark with a vault of 19-9 1/2 last month, it was a cruel rerun of the 1999 world championships, in which he also fell short during qualifying.

“I can’t describe the disappointment,” said Hartwig, a member of the 1996 Olympic team. “It’s beyond words for me.”

Words were not a problem for Greene, riled to race after waking up to a newspaper column in which Johnson criticized Greene and Miller, both members of the HSI track club.

In a “guest commentary,” Johnson said Greene had been “inconsistent this season. He has run a lot of races, which is not smart.” Johnson also predicted Miller would struggle to qualify for a spot on the women’s 100-meter Olympic team, because “she and some of her teammates at HSI have lost focus and rested on what they did last year.”

After coasting to victory in his qualifying heat, Greene stomped off the track and fired back at Johnson.

“I think a lot of people came here thinking I was not ready to run,” Greene said. “Just because I lost a couple races [in the last two weeks]. That was practice. This is showtime.”

Greene was asked what he wanted to accomplish before these trials were finished.

“Get Michael Johnson!” Greene proclaimed. Both the men’s and women’s semifinals and finals are scheduled for today. Qualifiers for the men’s semifinals included Brian Lewis (10.03 seconds), Curtis Johnson (10.10), Mike Marsh (10.12) and Jon Drummond (10.12).

Other qualifiers for the women’s 100-meter semifinals included defending Olympic champion Gail Devers, (10.99 seconds), 1999 world silver medalist Miller (11.04) and two-time NCAA champion Angela Williams of USC (11.34).