Clement belongs to the club

OSAKA, Japan -- Two years ago, Kerron Clement was caught up in a maelstrom, and he seemed too young to handle it.

Clement suddenly had emerged as a leader of Generation Next in U.S. track and field, and the kids’ presence discomfited some of those who had been the sport’s big men on campus for a generation. The veterans decided to assert themselves in the most childish of ways, demanding subservience rather than respect in what some saw as a mean-spirited fraternity initiation at best and hazing at worst.

Clement was a shy native of Trinidad who moved to the United States at 13 and had become, at age 19, the fastest intermediate hurdler in the world. He was at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, a favorite to win a gold medal, and past world champions such as John Capel and, reportedly, Maurice Greene, were hassling Clement and fellow world team rookies Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon.

“I really didn’t let it affect me,” Clement insisted Tuesday. “Of course, I was [disappointed] it happened. They should respect peoples’ space.”

Only Clement and those on his case know what happened. Certain is that Clement ran poorly in the semifinal and final of the 400-meter hurdles and finished fourth. Gay also ran a subpar race in the 200 meters and was fourth, with Capel third.

“I’m not going to get into finger-pointing, but the guys who did that know they were wrong,” said Clement’s coach, Mike Holloway. “Now Gay and Clement are world champions, and they aren’t here.”

So we fast-forward to Osaka in 2007, with the emphasis on fast, and here is Felix Sanchez of the Dominican Republic initiating Clement into the world champions’ club by affectionately pouring water over his head as Clement talked with the media Tuesday.

This was a fraternal gesture of respect between champions, a good way to be picked on by the older athlete whom Clement had just beaten to take the world title. Clement, 21, won in a world-leading 47.61 seconds, with two-time world champion and 2004 Olympic champion Sanchez, 29, second in 48.01.

“It’s not just about him being a great hurdler,” Holloway said. “He wants to be a great sprinter too.”

Clement already is so fast on the flats he may run on both the 400-meter and 1,600-meter relays at worlds. This season, he has clocked 10.23 for 100 meters, 20.49 for 200 and 44.48 for 400.

Holloway was ready to clean Clement’s clock in 2005 for throwing away a chance at a medal by virtually giving up once he realized the hurdles gold was gone. “I told him, ‘Son, you’ve got to run through the line,’ and that was the end of it,” Holloway said.

The coach also had offered to intervene once he learned details of the Helsinki incident from third parties. Clement replied, “I can take care of it, I’m fine.”

USA Track & Field investigated the situation but never publicly announced its results.

“I need to fight my battles for myself, and that’s what I did,” Clement said.

He is the champion of the world.

“I’m still young,” Clement said. “My future is very bright.”

Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.

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Track and field championships

Quote of the day: “I just want to get out of here without crying.” -- U.S. pole vaulter and presumed medal contender Jen Stuczynski, speaking to the media after a foot injury forced her to withdraw during the competition.

Tuesday’s (other) big event: The group hug by Kenya’s three steeplechasers at the finish line after they swept the medals. Two of the men later returned to the track to hug countrywoman Janeth Jepkosgei after she won the 800 meters.

Wednesday’s big event: The men’s 1,500 meters. Will Kenyan émigré Bernard Lagat or Born-in-the-USA Alan Webb give their country its first medal at the distance since 1987? Its first gold ever? Will Webb, who has the world’s leading time, validate his outstanding season and fulfill the potential he showed as a prep phenom or run as callow a race as he did in the semifinals?

-- Philip Hersh