Aths: Sprint rivals Montgomery, Greene in war of wordsAths US
By Gene Cherry
SANTA CLARA, California, June 18 Reuters - Sprintrivals Tim Montgomery and Maurice Greene were involvedin a war of words today almost as explosive as their100-metre starts.
I don't respect no-one that don't respect me,''world record holder Montgomery told reporters when askedabout Greene, who held the record until last September. Stupid,’’ said Greene of Montgomery when quizzedlater about his fellow American’s decision to leave hiscoach Trevor Graham last year.
From how fast their races would be run to thepressures of being the world’s fastest man, the twosprinters traded verbal jabs during and after a newsconference on the eve of the US championships in nearbyPalo Alto.
The pair will not clash on the track during thefour-day competition to decide the US team for the worldchampionships in Paris in August. Montgomery will runthe 100 metres and Greene the 200 but neither needed a starting block to blast offtoday.
Would you like to have your world record back?'',Montgomery called out from the back of the room afterGreene recognised him from the podium. I will get it back,’’ replied Greene.
Montgomery denied the pressure of being the worldrecord holder was so intense he was ready for Greene totake it back.
But he said: Four months ago, five months ago, Ithought about calling it a season. I was going through a lot of things,’’ he saidwithout alluding to his decision to leave Graham, andhis and partner Marion Jones’s brief work with bannedCanadian coach Charlie Francis that producedinternational uproar.
Now the rain and clouds are starting to spread andthe sun is starting to come back out,'' Montgomery said. If I don’t have a head-wind, you are going to seesome stuff out of me come Friday (in the 100 metresfinal) you haven’t seen in a long time.’’
Greene, though, had his doubts.
Asked for his prediction for the 100 metres final, theOlympic and triple world champion said: I don't thinkthey will run under 10 (seconds). It's very windy out there this time of theyear.'' Greene said he was not sure when the duo would meetagain on the track. He watched the race from the standswhen Montgomery produced his world record run of 9.78seconds in Paris last September. Montgomery suggested Greene was missing hisopportunity this weekend. No negotiations would be needed, all you’ve got todo is show up at the USA trials,’’ Montgomery said.
But Greene has decided to run the 200 metres at thetrials since he is guaranteed a berth in the worldchampionships 100 metres as the title holder.
Why is he concentrating on the 200 metres when theworld record is in the 100 metres?'' Montgomery asked.If he wants the record back, I want him to come andget it.’’
On and on the verbal jabs went as reporters stoked thefire.
I respect his running but I don't respect him as aperson,'' Montgomery said of Greene. His running is impeccable. As an athlete he isimpeccable but as a person who don’t respect the otherseven people on the track, I don’t have any respect forhim.’’
I respect everybody,'' Greene replied smiling. Theminute you stop respecting people is the minute you aregoing to have a hard time. Anything can happen when youstep on the line.’’
REUTERS ph
HAHAAHAHA… I love it!!!:devil::baddevil::
What would be good is if another sprinter. Who didn’t get involved in trash - flogged them
Who or where is TM training with now?
Maybe PJ DMA?
Rupert,
Is Tim not training with Steve Riddick??
why where people in a uprorar when marion trained with Charlie?
Good Question! The sheer ferocity of the condemnation was all a little bewildering. There are, I suppose, a lot of agendas in play…! :shoot:
Trash talking is fun…just back it up or you look real bad.
i personally like mo green, he is the model competitor, tim seems a bit off to me. Maybe he needs to get his head back in the game…
Dwain Chambers , (even though 9.65s is a bit optimistic) i hope he goes well and brings british sprint hopefuls back in the picture… American sprinters , have dominated well, but a change would be refreshing…
Originally posted by DMA
What would be good is if another sprinter. Who didn’t get involved in trash - flogged them
yeah, i hope gatlin is healed up and owns both of them. 
No23 if PJ did I would be drunk for a week.
Clemson - trash talking is good and fun, but it is in my make up to trash talk - I know what I can do.
Both MG & TM seem to have abit of work to do, but both are world record holders - one former.
I think someone like PJ & TG need to be careful in rounds. PJ really hasn’t done that.
for Chris6878 who asked why were there was pressure on Marion Jones not to train with Charlie francis.
The obvious answer is because Charlie Francis has been tainted for life for his association with one of the greatest, if not the greatest, 100m runners of all -time.
The truth is that we live in a world of immense hypocrisy. I ask the question how can a coach of athletics be given a virtual life sentence by government, society, and through the pressure that corporations place on athletes through sponsorshiph, to effectively ban an individual from coaching. Rapists and manslaughter gets less of a sentence.
It is obvious that Charlie Francis is passionate about athletics, knowledgeable and willing to help others. Further, it is evident that he is now firmly against the promotion of drugs, as indicated by his stance on this site despite continued hypocricy about this subject as well throughout the world in many sports.
trash talking should be banned from all non-contact sports.
:D:D:D
I think these verbal exchanges are good for the sport. Lets hope it stays interesting, and doesn’t go too far.
I like Pat Johnson approach " less talk and more action"… i hope MO and TM both get a good look at his back in Paris…
Trash talk happens with all greats.in boxing you had mohammad ali,in track you had carl lewis.its happens and as herb says its good for the sport and i truely agree with that.it gets the hype going along with the trash talk from the press to really lighten it up.the press can twist and turn things to cause big trouble.just look at what they did to vigay singh in golf.he meant one thing but they totally reversed his dialogue to make him look bad