BBC SPORT | ATHLETICS | Greene looks to history books



By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport Online

What is there left to do when you have won Olympic gold, been crowned world champion three times and hold the world record?

For Maurice Greene, the answer is to go to Sheffield.

Of course, that is not all that is left on the agenda of the fastest man in the world.

I'm capable of running way faster - nothing is imposible

Maurice Greene

Greene knows that, despite being the quickest in history, he is not yet universally accepted as the greatest sprinter the world has ever seen.

Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis are the two names Greene comes up against time and time again.

He is a modest man, and would never dream of publicly placing himself above those two greats - but it is clear that the thought is in his mind.

"I have to keep winning," he says. "Those before me have done that, and I've got to do the same.

"When the time comes, I want to finish as number one, not number two or three or something beyond that.

"The fact that there are all these guys out there trying to beat me spurs me on.

Maurice Greene lifts the Stars and Stripes after retaining his 100m world title in 2001
Greene has ruled the sport for last five years
"Some people get satisfied once they've achieved something or reached a certain level. Not me."

Greene makes his annual appearance in the UK on 30 June, at the Norwich Union Classic in Sheffield.

With Greene you can pretty much guarantee a fast time and a showman's performance. The Don Valley Stadium 100m record stands at 10.06secs, and barring gale-force headwinds he will go inside that.

A battle royal with Britain's Dwain Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis is, in theory, possible too, although how close Greene will allow the young pretenders to get to him is a moot point.

And the sort of time that will make even football fans concentrating on the World Cup final (which takes place earlier that day) sit up and take note?

Mo Greene

Born: Kansas City, 23 July 1974

100m PB: 9.79secs (world record)

Olympic golds: 100m, 4x100m (2000)

World titles:
100m (1997, 1999, 2001
200m (1999)
4x100m (1999, 2000)

You never know. With $100,000 on offer if the world record goes, the event organisers have made it worth his while.

"It's a different sort of season for me this year," says Greene.

"Your guys have the Commonwealths and the European Championships, but us Americans don't have a major championships.

"Some guys might choose to rest up and save themselves for next year - but I'm not like that.

"I'll be training hard and competing. For some of us, the fact that there isn't an Olympics or World Championships to aim for means you could see a lot of great races."

Maurice Greene in full flow
Greene is a powerhouse of a sprinter
So just how fast can Greene go?

At the World Championships last summer, he clocked 9.82secs despite running the final 30 metres in clear pain.

The tendonitis in his knee that held him back then has now cleared up. He says his winter training under coach John Smith has gone well, and his enthusiasm is clearly undiminished.

But initially he will not be drawn.

"Who knows if I'd have broken the record in Edmonton? You can't say. I might have run 9.83secs."

A little later the true Mo Greene shines through.

"I want to run a time that will imprint itself on the mind of everyone.

Nothing I could ever say could make you feel even half as good as I felt when I won Olympic gold

Maurice Greene

"The wind could be in my face and I could still run 9.76secs. When I ran 9.80secs in Seville (in the 1999 Worlds) the wind was +0.2ms.

"I'm capable of running way faster. Nothing is imposible. It's only impossible if you you allow yourself to think it's impossible.

"If you believe in something, you can achieve it. It doesn't always need a special race or a special bunch of guys alongside you to produce it.

"Sometimes you just get the feeling that you're going to produce something special."

And the way it feels when that happens, when you prove beyond all doubt that you are the fastest man the world has ever seen?

"Nothing I could ever say to you could make you feel even half as good as I felt when I won Olympic gold," he says.

"It was like being born. I saw everything there was to see."

Tickets for the Norwich Union Classic at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield on Sunday 30 June can be purchased by calling the 24-hour hotline on 0870 444 4440.


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