Maurice Greene
Born: July 23, 1974
Birthplace: Kansas City, KS
Residence: Granada Hills, CA
Nationality: USA
Height: 5’ 9’’
Weight: 175
Event: Track & Field sprints – 60, 100 and 200 meters
PRs 100m 9.79 (1999), 200m 19.86 (1997), 60m WR (i) 6.39 (1998, 2001)
Background:
Maurice Greene is track & field’s biggest fan. He loves to run, he loves to compete, he loves his fans and he loves to break world records. He has as much enthusiasm for the sport now as he did when he was young. Maurice can often be found at high school, college and professional track meets checking out the competition. He enjoys sharing his passion for track and field and offers tips and advice to those who listen as he hopes to be a coach when his career as a competitor is finished.
Along with training partner and Olympic silver medallist Ato Boldon, Maurice has adopted a Los Angeles-area group of youngsters whom they mentor. Maurice knows the importance of getting a head start in a competitive sport.
Greene got his start in the fourth grade when his age group coach pulled some strings to get him into an eraser shuttle race for fifth graders. Greene cruised to several easy wins and finished easily ahead of his older fifth-grade competition, thus planting the need-for-speed seed.
In high school, Greene nurtured his speed on the track as well as the football field—Greene’s all-time favourite athlete is football legend Walter Payton. In 1993, he won his third straight Kansas high school state meet 100- and 200-meter sprint double.
Greene hasn’t always known success. In 1996 Greene’s results at the Olympic Trials were disappointing and he failed to make the team. He knew he had the hardware to be the best in the world, but needed to sharpen his skills. And he knew just the place to do it. He moved to Los Angeles to train with renowned sprint coach John Smith and world-class sprinters Jon Drummond and Ato Boldon. Maurice is all about hard work and is willing to put everything he has into one of Smith’s workouts, and then he even digs a little deeper and gives it more. That’s what makes him a champion.
Greene’s buoyant personality and charming disposition coupled with his earth-shattering performances have won the hearts of people all over the world. Maurice has always appreciated the support of his fans.
Maurice was the first to ever win both the 100m and 200m at the 1999 World Championships in Seville. He collected his third gold medal of the competition for his efforts on the 4 x 100-meter relay team.
Maurice believes he can keep running faster!
Achievements:
2004: 1st place, 100m, Mount SAC
1st place, 100m, Osaka GP
2003 1st place, 60m, Boston Indoor Games
1st place, 200m, Mt. SAC Relays
1st place, 200m, Martinique-GPII
1st place, 100m, Home Depot Invitational
3rd place, 100m, Oregon Track Classic-GPII
3rd place, 100m, Lausanne-Super GP
3rd place, 100m, Golden Gala, Rome-GL
2002 GOLD, 100m, U.S. Championships, Palo Alto, California
1st place, 100m, Athens Grand Prix, Athens, Greece
1st place, 100m, Gaz De France, Paris, France
1st place, 100m, Roma Golden Gala, Rome, Italy
1st place, 100m, Herculis, Monaco
2001 2001 1st place, 60m, US Indoor Championships - tied his World Record (6.39)
GOLD Medalist, 100m, World Championships, Edmonton, Canada
1st place, 4X100m relay & 4X200m relay, Penn Relays
1st place, 100m, Athens Grand Prix
2000 GOLD Medalist, 100m, Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia
GOLD Medalist, 4x100m relay, Olympic Games, Sydney, Australia
1st place, 100m, U.S. Olympic Trials
1999 GOLD Medalist, 100m, World Championships, Seville, Spain
GOLD Medalist, 200m, World Championships, Seville, Spain
GOLD Medalist, 4 x 100m relay, Seville, Spain
World record in the 100m at 9.79 in Athens, Greece
World record in the indoor 50m at 5.56 (tied) in Los Angeles, U.S.
GOLD Medalist, 200m, USA National Championships
GOLD Medalist, 60m, World Indoor Championships, Maebashi, Japan
Jesse Owens Award winner
Ranked #1 in the world and U.S. in both the 100m and 200m
1998 World record in the indoor 60m at 6.39 in Madrid, Spain
Broke the 10-second barrier in the 100m 10 times
Ranked #1 in the world and U.S. in the 100m
Ranked #3 in the world, #1 in the U.S. in the 200m
1997 GOLD Medalist, 100m, USA National Championships
GOLD Medalist, 100m, World Championships, Athens, Greece
Ranked #1 in the U.S. in the 100m
Ranked #2 in the world in the 100m
1995 SILVER Medalist, 100m USA National Championships