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Wednesday, September 20
Sprinters share much more than Olympic dream
By Rob Gloster
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Maurice Greene got the master bedroom. Ato Boldon got the whirlpool.
|  | | Maurice Greene already got the best of Ato Boldon in Sydney -- Greene got the master bedroom. |
The world's two fastest men are sharing a beach house in suburban Sydney, along with playing a few games of pool and eating some fast-food breakfasts as they prepare for a 100-meter showdown this weekend.
Greene is world champion in the 100 and set the world record of 9.79 seconds last year. He has been ranked No. 1 in the world since 1998.
Boldon was a bronze medalist in the 100 at the 1996 Atlanta Games. His personal best is 9.86 seconds, and he was the only man to beat Greene in a 100-meter race in 1999.
Though Greene is American and Boldon runs for Trinidad & Tobago, they are HSI track club teammates and training partners. And they are sharing a house in Coogee Beach -- along with HSI coach John Smith and sprinters Jon Drummond and Inger Miller -- during the Sydney Games.
"From the outside, the perception has always been, 'How can you guys compete against each other and still be friends?' But amid all the cynicism, isn't that what the Olympics are all about?" Boldon asks.
"We have the same goal, which is to win the Olympic gold medal. I think we've been able to leave what happens on the track out there, and that's why the relationship has lasted."
When pressed by reporters to describe any friction in the house, Boldon feigns a look of dismay.
"Actually, I'm very upset because Maurice has the master bedroom," Boldon says.
Drummond, standing with his teammates at a podium, gets in his own jibe.
"Yeah, but Ato has the whirlpool," he points out.
Asked about their daily routine, Boldon says they're playing a lot of pool -- and makes sure to point out he usually beats Greene.
"Ato made breakfast this morning," Greene adds. "He went to McDonald's."
While Greene is favored in the 100, he pulled up lame in the 200 final at the U.S. trials and did not qualify for the Olympics in that event. Michael Johnson, the 1996 Olympic champion in the 200 and the world's best at that distance over the past few years, also limped out of the 200-meter final at the trials and did not
qualify.
That has left Boldon, the 1996 Olympic bronze medalist at 200 meters, as the favorite in that race.
"Whoever's not in the race has nothing to do with what happens," Boldon says. "History will not record who was not there, it will record who won the Olympic medal. And I'm hoping it will be me."
The two sprinters say they push each other in workouts and races, and that the HSI intrasquad competition -- including Drummond and Curtis Johnson, two other Americans in the Olympic 100-meter field -- has been especially important as they all work off jet lag in Sydney.
"With them it makes it a lot easier," Greene says. "Who knows what we could do without each other."
Greene and Boldon both talk about as fast as they run. They love the spotlight and exude a cockiness expected from such speedsters.
But Boldon is happy to sit back and listen to Greene proclaim over and over that he's the favorite in the 100.
"I wish he'd predict that more. My thinking in coming into these games is I don't have to defeat Maurice, he has to defeat me," Boldon says. "I'm content playing the role of supporting cast until the final. This is my third Olympics, and this is his first, so he has advantages and so do I."
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