Greene was ahead of the pack

He never ran a race he didn’t think he could win, and Maurice Greene competed against time and age as valiantly as he could.

His spirit was willing. But his muscles and tendons, taxed by years of propelling him out of the starting blocks and driving him faster than almost any human has run, would carry him no more.

So last week in Beijing, where he had hoped to win another Olympic gold medal this summer and enthrall the world, the 33-year-old sprinter announced his retirement on a quiet winter’s day.

“I’ll miss the feeling of being on the 100-meter starting line at the world championships or the Olympic Games. There’s no feeling like that in the world,” said Greene, who plans to stay in the sport as a consultant.

“It gives you such a high. I feel more comfortable there than lying on my own bed. That’s what I love.”

It’s unfortunate that Greene, three times the 100-meter world champion -- including an unprecedented 1999 sprint double -- the Sydney Olympic champion and former world-record holder, is leaving just when his sport needs him most.

When his showmanship might repaire some of the damage done by drug scandals that took down Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and too many others.

When a generation of young runners has learned how to win but hasn’t learned how to grab casual fans or create rivalries that might revive the interest track and field once generated around the globe.

It hurt him to leave. It would have hurt even more to stay.

“The last couple of years have been really hard on me to get a steady training base because I always had something nagging, some kind of injury,” said Greene, who has lived and trained in Southern California for more than 11 years.

“It was a mental battle with myself to overcome injuries and compete. This year was going to be my last regardless, so I figured I might as well go ahead and do it now. I’ve had a great career and I’d rather leave now, before people tell me to leave.”

Greene was cocky, but in a way that was theatrical, not mean. He was brash. He clearly stepped over the line at the Sydney Olympics, when he and the other three members of the triumphant 400-meter relay team preened and cavorted during the national anthem in a disrespectful, adrenaline-fueled display for which they profoundly and profusely apologized.

He also won. A lot.

Greene ran 52 sub-10-second races in the 100-meter dash that were wind-legal, nearly 20 more than his nearest pursuer, current world-record holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica.

He also set the world indoor 60-meter record of 6.39 seconds in 1998 and matched it in 2001. In 1999 he set a world record in the 100 of 9.79 seconds, and although it has been eclipsed, it stands as the American record following the annulment of Montgomery’s 9.78 and Justin Gatlin’s 9.77 as part of their punishment for drug violations.

Four years after Sydney, supposedly past his prime after a broken leg and assorted muscle pulls, Greene won a bronze in the 100 at Athens in 9.87 seconds -- the same time in which he won at Sydney. He also won a silver in the 400-meter relay.

Above all, he gave the sport a recognizable face and vibrant personality.

He playfully stuck out his tongue at those who trailed him to the finish line. He had GOAT, for Greatest of All Time, tattooed on one arm.

In 2004, after he won the 100 at the Home Depot Invitational in Carson in a wind-aided 9.86 seconds, his training partner Larry Wade ran onto the track with a fire extinguisher to “cool off” his blistering-hot shoes.

It was a stunt, but fans loved it -- and it brought a welcome moment of humor to a sport torn apart by doping.

There are American sprinters talented enough to take Greene’s place on the world stage. With Gatlin still banned, Tyson Gay is the heir apparent. There’s no one to take Greene’s place as an entertainer.

“The main thing with me is I was going to continue being the same person no matter what I got or what I won,” he said. “A lot of people get a certain status . . . they feel, ‘I accomplished this so I have to act this way.’ I don’t think you have to be standoffish because you’ve had a certain amount of success.

“I’m going to continue being myself. I like to laugh and have fun and have good times. I’m not trying to be something I’m not.”

He never tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance and condemned those who did. He said he was offered various drugs over the years but resisted, and not only because he’s “terrified of needles” and can’t bear the sight of a syringe.

“The most important thing to me is my 8-year-old daughter has to grow up and deal with all these things. It’s for my daughter. It’s for my mother,” he said.

“I believe the good Lord gave me an ability and if I worked hard I would be able to accomplish a lot. If the good Lord does not want you to do something, you’re not going to accomplish it.”

Before the conversation ended and he began the rest of his life, Greene had one request.

“I want to thank my fans. They’ve been very good to me,” he said. “I hope you all enjoyed the show I put on. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed putting it on.”

Consider it said. And done.

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.