| | ESPN.com news services
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The 2000 United States Olympic Track and
Field Trials get off to a quick start on Friday at Hornet
Stadium, with superstars Maurice Greene and Marion Jones making
early appearances.
Greene, the world champion in the 100 and 200 meters who is
looking to make his first Olympic team, will compete in the
first round of the men's 100 at 9 p.m. ET, the sixth event
during the first day of the trials.
|  | | Michael Johnson won the 200 and 400 meters in record times at the 1996 games in Atlanta. |
Jones, a two-time world champion in the 100, will run in the
first round of the women's dash at 8:30 p.m. ET in an event
that features a showdown between Jones and Inger Miller.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the 1988 Olympic long jump champion and
American record holder, is expected to compete in the long jump
beginning Friday night. The 38-year-old has not competed since
1998.
The trials, which feature eight days of competition over a
10-day span, get under way Friday at 3:20 p.m. ET with
qualifying for the women's high jump.
Other events Friday include the Heptathlon, early rounds of the
men's and women's 1,500 meters, the finals of the men's and
women's 10,000 meters and qualifying rounds of the women's
hammer throw and men's shot put and pole vault.
Michael Johnson, who is looking for a repeat performance of his
record-setting sweep in the 200 and 400 in Atlanta, appears for
the first time Saturday night at 8:22 in the semifinals of the
400.
Johnson and Greene tangle in their expected 200-meter duel on
July 22. Johnson won Olympic gold in 1996 with a world-record
time of 19.32 seconds in the event, which Greene claimed in the
absence of Johnson during the 1999 World Championships.
More than 1,200 athletes will compete in 39 separate events to
determine the U.S. roster for the 2000 Games in Sydney,
Australia.
The formula for making the American team is unique and virtually
unchanged since 1928. While other countries rely on a
combination of trials and committees, most American athletes
must finish in the top three of their trial event.
The 2000 trials are expected to be the best-attended in U.S.
history, with ticket sales of 168,000 at California State
University already eclipsing the record of 151,522 established
by Atlanta in 1996.
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