OLYMPICS TRACK: U.S. RUNS AWAY WITH 200 CROWD CAN'T STOP SWEEP; AMERICANS GO 1-2 IN LONG JUMP.Byline: Paul Oberjuerge Staff Writer ATHENS, Greece - The mostly Greek crowd might have seen an ``even more spectacular'' 200-meter race, Justin Gatlin Justin Gatlin (born February 10, 1982) is an American sprinter. He is an Olympic gold medalist, with a personal best of 9.77 seconds. He is currently serving an eight-year ban from track and field for testing positive for a banned substance, which he is currently appealing. said, had it not contributed to a six-minute delay with its chanting, hooting and whistling. But what could be more spectacular than a 1-2-3 finish by U.S. sprinters before a capacity audience of 75,000 Thursday night at Athens Olympic Stadium The Olympic Stadium is the name usually given to the big centrepiece stadium of the Summer Olympic Games. Traditionally, the opening and closing ceremonies and the track & field competitions are held in the Olympic Stadium. ? Shawn Crawford Shawn Crawford (born January 14, 1978) is a sprint athlete from the United States. Biography Shawn Crawford was born in Van Wyck, South Carolina. He attended Clemson University from where he claimed 11 All-America honors and three National Championships. won in a 2004-best 19.79 seconds, Bernard Williams  For other persons named Bernard Williams, see Bernard Williams (disambiguation). Sir Bernard Arthur Owen Williams was second in 20.01 and Gatlin, the 100-meter gold-medalist, was third in 20.03 as the U.S. wrapped up almost a perfect effort in the men's individual sprints at the Athens Olympics Athens Olympics
Olympic Games • . American men swept the 400 and 200, and went first and third in the 100. Crawford was fourth in the 100, in which Portugal's Francis Obikwelu Francis Obiorah Obikwelu, born November 22, 1978 in Nigeria and a Portuguese citizen since 2001, is a sprint athlete specializing in 100 m and 200 m, who finished second in the 100 m at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the first medal ever in athletics won silver. Eight of nine sprint medals is the best Olympic performance by the Americans since the sparsely attended 1904 St. Louis Games, where U.S. athletes swept all three events. ``It shows dominance,'' Williams said of the U.S. sprint performance here. ``That we've got good facilities, good support back home.'' Said Crawford: ``In America, we have a tradition of 'representing' and staying dominant in the sprints. We were the top three in the country, and now the top three in the world.'' Dwight Phillips Dwight Phillips (born October 1, 1977 in Decatur, Georgia) is an American athlete who specializes in the long jump. Dwight was a promising sprinter in his early days but concentrated on the triple jump while at University of Kentucky before switching to the long jump after and John Moffitt This article is about the Olympic long jumper. For the U.S. Representative from New York, see John H. Moffitt. John Moffitt (born December 12, 1980) is an American track and field athlete who competes mainly in long jump. finished 1-2 for the U.S. in the long jump, with Phillips winning with a mark of 28 feet, 2 1/2 inches. Phillips expanded on the spurts of dominance the U.S. has shown in the stadium here, even with several top performers missing in the wake of the BALCO doping doping, in electronics: see semiconductor. Altering the electrical conductivity of a semiconductor material, such as silicon, by chemically combining it with foreign elements. scandal. ``Funny thing about the United States of America UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The name of this country. The United States, now thirty-one in number, are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, , we have so many good athletes, sometimes our 4-5-6 performers could be great competitors for a lot of countries,'' Phillips said. ``We have so many great athletes, we could go 20 deep if we had to.'' Perhaps a good example of that depth is former USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. 400-meter hurdler Felix Sanchez, who chose to compete for the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (dəmĭn`ĭkən), republic (2005 est. pop. 8,950,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo. in 1999 rather than try to fight his way through the U.S. system. Sanchez grew up in the U.S. and doesn't even speak Spanish. But he won the 400-hurdles gold Thursday - for the Dominican. The men's 200 was the highlight/low point of the evening. Greece's Kostas Kenteris won the 200 at Sydney, ending a 104-year gold drought in men's running for the nation that invented the Olympics. Many Greeks bought tickets to Thursday's session believing they could watch Kenteris defend his gold. But the national hero failed to take a doping test just before the Games opened, left the Athletes Village and is now in disgrace. The crowd seemed to focus its frustration on the three Americans in the 200, jeering and whistling as they were introduced, and chanting ``Hellas'' - which is Greek for Greece. Some seemed also to chant ``Kenteris.'' ``We were told by our coaches something might happen with the crowd,'' Crawford said. ``It was something we prepared for.'' But Gatlin admitted that it wasn't fun to be the target of derision. ``This goes out to the audience,'' he said. ``We train all our lives for the Olympics. And we wish no hardship or bad luck on any athlete out there. ``We understand the Greeks wanted their hometown favorite in the race, but we're here to put on a show for them, for the audience, and by them holding up the race, it might have been even more spectacular than it was.'' Organizers flashed requests for quiet several times on a giant message board in the stadium, which seemed only to prompt more noise. The runners were in the blocks when veteran Frankie Fredericks stood up, gesturing that he couldn't hope to hear the starting gun, and signaling the crowd for quiet. A false start backed up the event another minute or two. Gatlin, attempting to join the likes of Jesse Owens and Carl Lewis as Americans who have doubled in the 100 and 200 in the same Games, seemed to have a slight edge coming off the turn, but Crawford pulled away on the straight. ``I'm not disappointed,'' Gatlin said. ``I'm 22, I've got two medals. Going for gold in the 200 can serve as motivation for next time.'' Paul Oberjuerge, (909) 386-3865 paul.oberjuerge(at)sbsun.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Shawn Crawford, center, Bernard Williams, right, and Justin Gatlin gave the U.S. a 1-2-3 finish in the 200-meter race on Thursday. Anja Niedringhaus/Associated Press |
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