PARIS, July 3 (AFP) - World and Olympic 100 metreschampion Maurice Greene said he was looking to put in agood performance here on Friday in the Golden Leaguemeeting as he bids to put behind him his disappointingrun in Lausanne this week.
The 28-year-old ‘Kansas Comet’ admitted he had runpoorly in Switzerland but he was desperate to defy thedoubters who believe he is on the wane, accusationswhich first surfaced last year when his aura ofinvincibility vanished in a series of defeats and whichclimaxed when arch-rival Tim Montgomery broke his 100mworld record with him sitting in the stands.
My prime objective is to win,'' Greene said. I want to put up a good performance. A big show anda big race particularly as it’s a track I have neverlost on,’’ added Greene, who could finish only third inLausanne behind in-form Nigerian Deji Aliu.
Greene, who pulled out of the 200m at the US trialsbecause he didn’t like his lane draw, admitted bluntlythat the Lausanne race had been a below-par performance.
I made several errors but above all I didn't runwell,'' said Greene, though he added that he rarely wonon his first appearance of the season in Europe. However following the press conference Greene wasforced to apparently cut short a training session afterfeeling pain in his left knee. Emerging from starting blocks, Greene pulled up aftera few metres running and held his knee before ending thesession at a track in the Parisian suburbs. Greene, who is set to spend a week training in Monacowith his stablemates from the Emmanuel Hudson/John Smith(HSI) team before deciding what his programme would beleading up to the world championships in which he haswon the last three 100m crowns, had earlier revealed hewas beginning to pass on his knowledge to the futurestars of the track. I am coaching at a high school in Los Angeles wherethe head coach is Quincy Watts, who also had John as hiscoach when he won the Olympic 400m title, and passing onmy knowledge to them.
``I didn’t tell John I was doing it but I am veryhappy to be coaching kids,’’ said Greene, despite thekids in question being 17 years old.