Greene aims to prove age no barrier to speed

By Gene Cherry Wed Jan 31, 8:21 PM ET

RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) -
Maurice Greene wants to turn back the clock and rediscover life among the world’s elite sprinters this year, at the age of 32.

“This year is going to be one of the best years I’ve had, and you’d better believe it,” Greene told Reuters in a telephone interview from Los Angeles.

“After I win the world championships this year and win the Olympics next year, then I can truly walk away from the sport and say I gave it all I got.”

“After 2008, I believe that will be my time to go,” added the three-times 100 meters world champion.

While no sprinter under 30 was ranked among the world’s top 10 100 meters runners in 2006, Greene believes he can buck the trend.

“The 30’s are the new 20,” said the American, who set a then world record of 9.79 seconds in 1999.

His opening test will come on Friday when the 2000 Olympic champion faces Athens 200 meters gold medallist
Shawn Crawford over 60 meters at the 100th anniversary Millrose Games in New York.

"I am just going out there to win, and whatever times comes to me, comes to me. " said Greene, who has not raced in 10 months because of injuries.

“But it is going to be a fast time, and the crowd will be pleased,” he added.

OUTDOOR FOCUS

The race is likely be his only indoor performance of the year before he turns his focus to the outdoor season and his speciality, the 100 metres.

Jamaican Asafa Powell now holds the world record, having clocked 9.77 seconds three times in the last two years.

“He’s been doing a lot of good things. I respect his running ability,” Greene said.

“He’s probably the strongest one out there, but the thing about him is, he runs very well when he’s comfortable. He gets into trouble when he has people in the race who can run with him. That’s when he has problems.”

For now, the love of competition and the memory of the 2004 Athens Olympics, where Greene won a silver and bronze in what he said was the most disappointing experience of his career, drive the sprinter forward.

“I lost two gold medals by three-hundredths of a second (in Athens),” said Greene, who was 0.02 seconds behind winner
Justin Gatlin as the bronze medallist in the 100 metres and 0.01 of a second adrift of the winning British quartet in the 4x100 relay.

Four years after he grabbed the 100 and 4x100 relay golds at Sydney, the glitter was gone.

The sport’s image was being hammered by the BALCO doping scandal, and Greene was being slowed by injuries.

“Now I am having fun again,” said Greene, who through better dieting and improved stretching exercises hopes he has curtailed the aches and pains of recent years.

Greene’s speed may be under question but his ability to psych out his opponents remains – after all, he has the letters G.O.A.T. tattooed on his arm.

“The Greatest of All Time,” said Greene, who has run more sub-10 second 100 metres than any other athlete.

“I wouldn’t have gotten that tattoo with the G.O.A.T. if I didn’t think I was.”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070201/lf_nm/athletics_greene_dc_1

cant wait to watch this race.

I’m predicting 6.52s for Mo.
Any other predictions?

ill say high 6.4’s

Love Greene, but id have to go with low 6.6’s

6.60 what time is the race?

7-9 eastern time
I say 6.56

Mo ran 27. Man I was way off

6 Maurice Greene USA 27.70*

*Green Stumbled/Fell at 25m

http://www.millrose-games.com/2007/m60m.shtml

damn mo green.

nnnnnnnnnnnoooooooooooooooo

maurice

NOOOOOO!!!

Well, anyway… its just a 60! All that matters is the 100!

Keep at it mo

Does anybody have the video at least.

Was it the blocks?

Hope it didnt create an injury, falling at 25m, he still would have been moving rather fast too, falling at that speed can easily create injuries.
I wonder how he was running at 20m?

how the hell does that happen at that level without going over a hurdle??
I don’t get it. :mad: :mad:

Thats my !@#+! too!

Seriously, technically, what happened?

VIDEO, PLEASE

I predicted 6.52s, pretty close!

Apparently Greene may have been pushed by Crawford a bit cause he takes up a lot of room. It replays here at 2pm so I’ll watch it and see.

This was posted on Track and field News. Comments form Greene after the race.

“I thought I had a pretty good start. I had a lot of adrenaline going at the beginning of the race. At the start, there’s a little dip in the track. I guess I missed a step and I couldn’t recover. I thought ‘uh, oh, I’m going down.’ It happens. I’ve only been doing block starts for a week and a half now. That’s the part I was worried about. I think I would have run pretty good if that wouldn’t have happened. I was expecting a time from 6.48 to 6.52. I think I was in good position to start accelerating and go to the finish. Who knows what would have happened. I want to run technical races. With technique, the times will come. If I win the world championships in 11.5, it won’t matter. One thing about me is I love what I’m doing and I love the sport. And as you can see, the fans love for me to get out there and compete.”

Seeing the race now, it’s hard to tell what happens. Doesn’t look like anybody around him caused him to go down and just like he said he missed a step. He’d probably have ran a similar time to Crawford’s had he finished.

I will tell you this. His interview says a lot [the infamous dip in the track]. What is more important than what happened in the race is what else takes place on that track. The shot putters throw right on the track and the shots land on a mat that is pulled over the lanes. These suckers may have, over time, caused small divets in the track and he unfortunately caught one. I studied the tape over and over. IT actually makes sense. He is planting his left foot in accel, (with a lead on crawford I might add), with no weird twist in his form or pulling up (as the crazy analysts suggested) he buckles and falls.
It perfectly resembles something that has happened to each of us when sprinting on a grass field and we encounter a “dip” in the surface.
Now that being said, one might look at the way he bounces up after rolling bcuz he favors his ankle for a second. But even then he walks very normally and calmly down the remaining distance and congratulates shawn with no grimace or sign of pain. He is okay and will be back.
He did almost get caught rocking in the blocks :wink:

Viva la GOAT!! :smiley: VIVA LA GOAT!! :smiley: VIVA LA GOAT!! :smiley:

A link I got off another website, its hand filmed and poor quality, but if you want to see what happened:

http://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m189/smallz112/?action=view&current=Mens60m.flv