Greene Slows Only After Win

First, Maurice Greene felt a pinch in his left quadriceps. A stride later, with about 15 meters left in his quest for his third consecutive 100 meters world championship, Greene felt his hamstring twang.

But worst of all, he felt the hot breath of U.S. teammate Tim Montgomery, who had brashly predicted he would bring about Greene’s downfall.

“When I’m in a race like that,” Greene said, “I’m going to have to kill myself before I’d stop. When you want something so bad, you have to fight to get it.”

Greene fought off an onrushing Montgomery on Sunday and powered to the finish line in 9.82 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year. Montgomery, who later regretted leaning at the tape instead of pushing one more step, was second in 9.85; Bernard Williams made it a 1-2-3 U.S. sweep, its first at the world championships since 1991, by edging past Ato Boldon for third in a personal-best 9.94.

Greene, the defending Olympic champion, was too hobbled to run the traditional victory lap. Instead, he limped around the track at Commonwealth Stadium carrying the U.S. flag above his head to show the appreciative crowd of 36,189. If matching Carl Lewis’ feat by becoming the second man to win three consecutive world titles in the 100 also means he carries the label of the best sprinter the U.S. has ever produced, he bears it proudly.

“Carl Lewis was a great athlete. He was a great competitor,” said Greene, who got off to his usual strong start and never trailed. “I always said I want to be known as the greatest 100-meter sprinter ever. Maybe now my name will start getting mentioned with Carl Lewis.”

He rued missing a world record, but was happy to hold off Montgomery. “I think I could have run a 9.77, truthfully, but that’s only speculation,” said Greene, who pulled out of the 200 and is doubtful for the 400-meter relay. “This was special, but I wish this had been a little more special.”

Montgomery knew he had to be strong out of the blocks and gambled, which got him the third of the three false starts. “I was very tense at the start because I knew to beat Maurice Greene, you have to beat him at the start,” Montgomery said. “I’m disappointed in my own false start. . . . I just ran out of room. I know I have 9.75 in my heart, but Maurice showed today why he’s a champion.”

Williams also paid tribute to the winner, saying he never expected to overtake Greene or Montgomery. “Those two guys were in another race,” he said. “We had two world championships, if you ask me. I’m a bit disappointed I didn’t get gold, but I’m blessed to get bronze.”

Canada’s Donovan Bailey, the 1996 Olympic 100-meter gold medalist, was eliminated in the semifinals and confirmed that this was his final race.

In the women’s 100 preliminaries, only the starter could hold back Marion Jones, who extended her winning streak in 100-meter races to 55 by prevailing in her first-round and quarterfinal heats.

After a false start in her morning race, she recovered to win in 10.93 seconds. She wasn’t as fast in the quarterfinals, with a time of 10.97, but she was happy to get a better start and a good feel for the track.

“I have a lot left,” said Jones, who last lost a 100, to Merlene Ottey, nearly four years ago. “I can remember like it was yesterday getting beat by Merlene in Japan, and I didn’t like the feeling. . . .

“I love this track. It’s really fast. Overall, I feel good about everything.”

Chryste Gaines (11.36 in the first round, 11.31 in the quarterfinals), Kelli White (11.36 and 11.11) and Angela Williams of USC (11.41 and 11.24) also advanced to today’s semifinals. The final will be later today.

“On to the next round, which was the goal,” Williams said. “[Today] I’ll have to go all out. I’ll be ready. It’s going to be pretty tough.”

UCLA alumna Shelia Burrell finished a surprising third in the injury-depleted women’s heptathlon, recording personal bests in the 100-meter hurdles, 200 and long jump for a personal-best 6,472 points. Yelena Prokhorova of Russia won with 6,694.

“It’s been a while since an American has been on the medal stand in a major international event, besides DeDee Nathan at the indoor nationals in 1999,” Burrell said. “I’m happy I was able to take advantage of the opportunity presented by Denise [Lewis, the Olympic champion] and Eunice [Barber, the defending world champion] not being here.”

Another UCLA alum, U.S. women’s shotput champion Seilala Sua, was eliminated in Sunday’s qualifying round. Sua’s best throw was 16.61 meters (54 feet 6 inches), short of the 17.71-meter (58 feet-1 1/4 inch) cutoff. Sua will also compete in the discus, which begins Thursday.

*

Suzy Favor-Hamilton stumbled about 600 meters into her heat of the women’s 1,500 and lost her stride, leading her to drop out. Sarah Schwald of the U.S. barely missed advancing to the final with a time of 4 minutes 11.74 seconds.

U.S. high jump champion Nathan Leeper also failed to get past the qualifying round in his event. Ten jumpers, led by Sydney silver medalist Javier Sotomayor of Cuba and Charles Austin of the U.S., cleared 2.27 meters (7 feet 5 1/4 inches), and two cleared 2.25 meters (7-4 1/2). Leeper cleared 2.25 but had more misses. David Furman of the U.S. was eliminated at 2.20 meters (7-2 1/2). “It didn’t go so great,” Leeper said. “It’s been a long time since I’ve jumped, and it felt like the first time.”

Sydney gold medalist Heike Drechsler of Germany suffered a right leg injury and didn’t qualify for the long jump finals. “It is surely not the end,” said Drechsler, 36. U.S. long jump champion Jenny Adams squeezed into the final 12, with a jump of 6.48 meters (21 feet 3 1/4 inches). . . . Monique Hennagan ran a season-best 51.12 seconds in the women’s 400 to lead a U.S. trio into the semifinals. . . . Sandra Glover, Tonja Buford-Bailey and Brenda Taylor of the U.S. advanced to today’s semifinals of the 400-meter hurdles. . . . Heats of the men’s 10,000 were canceled. All entrants will start Wednesday’s final.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s Schedule

Schedule for the fourth day of the World Track and Field Championships at Edmonton, Canada (all times are Pacific):

* Finals--Women’s pole vault, 1:30 p.m.; men’s triple jump, 4 p.m.; women’s javelin, 4:05 p.m.; women’s 100 meters, 4:35 p.m.; men’s 400 meters, 5:25 p.m.

* Selected events--Men’s 110-meter hurdles, first round; men’s 5,000 meters, first round; women’s 100 meters, semifinals; women’s 400 meters, semifinals.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Fast Company

Maurice Greene has the three fastest times in history in the 100 meters:

*--*

Time Athlete Nation Venue Date 9.79 Maurice Greene U.S. Athens June 16, 1999 9.80 Maurice Greene U.S. Seville Aug. 22, 1999 9.82 Maurice Greene U.S. Edmonton Aug. 6, 2001 9.84 Donovan Bailey Canada Atlanta July 27, 1996 9.84 Bruny Surin Canada Seville Aug. 22, 1999 9.84 Tim Montgomery U.S. Oslo July 13, 2001 9.85 Tim Montgomery U.S. Edmonton Aug. 6, 2001 9.85 Leroy Burrell U.S. Lausanne July 6, 1994 9.85 Maurice Greene U.S. Rome July 7, 1999 9.86 Carl Lewis U.S. Tokyo Aug. 25, 1991 9.86 Frank Fredericks Namibia Lausanne July 3, 1996 9.86 Maurice Greene U.S. Athens Aug. 3, 1997 9.86 Ato Boldon Trinidad Walnut April 19, 1998 9.86 Ato Boldon Trinidad Athens June 17, 1998 9.86 Ato Boldon Trinidad Athens June 16, 1999 9.86 Ato Boldon Trinidad Lausanne July 2, 1999 9.86 Maurice Greene U.S. Berlin Sept. 1, 2000

*--*