BBC SPORT | Athletics | Greene reveals concerns



By Tom Fordyce BBC Sport Online

World and Olympic champion Maurice Greene is not a man who is used to being beaten.

But after four years of being the undisputed king of the sprinting world, Greene has had to endure a summer of ego-battering defeats at the hands of rivals like Dwain Chambers and Tim Montgomery.

Critics have speculated that his time at the top might be coming to an end after three successive world titles, two Olympic 100m golds and the 100m world record.

When I've lost this year, I've run 10 seconds. So what?

Maurice Greene

But Greene has revealed that it was trouble away from the track that has been responsible for his unprecedented run of defeats.

"This year has been very trying for me," he said.

"I had a lot of problems in my personal life which led to me starting training much later than I usually would.

"I had a couple of deaths in the family. My grandmother passed and my uncle passed, who I was very close to, and my mind wasn't in the right place.

Maurice Greene smiles
Greene says he will be world number one until he retires
"Then I had problems with shoe companies. I was at the point of saying, what am I doing this for?

"I was more than let down - I was deeply hurt by the way they treated me.

"I wouldn't push myself to go that extra step on the track because I thought, they don't care what I'm doing.

"That's why my season has been so up and down, why I'm not as consistent as I have been."

Slow times

Greene insists that he will bounce back in 2003, despite the challenge of rivals like Chambers, Montgomery and Mark Lewis-Francis.

"When I've lost this year, I've run 10 seconds. So what?

"If I run 9.85secs and I lose, then we've got a problem. But that's not happening.

"I'm not taking anything way from them (his rivals), because they've been running good. I just didn't show up - period.

If I run the perfect race, it will be imprinted in everyone's mind

Maurice Greene

"All I wanted to do this year was run a couple of races, run fast, and then rest, but I've run much more than I wanted to.

"I've been number one in the world for quite a few years, and that puts a lot of strain on your body.

"I wanted this to be a recovery year so I can continue to be world number one for the next couple of years.

"I had no world championships or anything, so I really wasn't worried about it.

"I'm going to go out of this sport at the top. I'm not going to finish eighth, ninth, fifth - I'm going to go out winning, running fast times."

London test

Greene wants that recovery to get underway with immediate effect.

On Friday he faces the world's best over 100m at the Norwich Union Grand Prix at Crystal Palace.

All the big guns will be there - Chambers, Montgomery, Frankie Fredericks, Kim Collins, Bernard Williams - but Greene wants a win, in style.

"I feel I have one more 9.8-something seconds race in me, so we'll have to see what happens," he said.

"If I run the perfect race, it will be imprinted in everyone's mind. It'll be something that no-one will ever forget.

"I try to do it every time I step on the track. Whenever the Good Lord lets me do it, that's when it is going to happen."


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