Gone with the wind

Wind could blow away 100-meter record at Goodwill Games

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Posted: Sunday July 19, 1998 04:32 PM

Ato Bolden has the fastest legal time in the 100 meters this year (AP)

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) - The chances of a world record in the 100 meters in the Goodwill Games could wind up blowing in the wind.

Ato Boldon, the world 200 champion who has the fastest legal times in the 100 this year, thinks the wind at Mitchel Field Athletic Complex will negate the possibility of a record when the 100 final is run Tuesday night.

"I wish we had the wind blowing better on the track," Boldon said Friday after a practice session. "There will probably be a strong headwind of nearly two meters per second.

"I know what that's going to do to the runners. Anything coming into your face is going to affect the time. So it's stacked against us."

Boldon had such an experience June 17 at Athens, Greece

There, he matched his best time of the year - 9.86 seconds, only 0.02 seconds off the world mark of 9.84 by Canada's Donovan Bailey - and might have broken the record if he hadn't been running into a headwind of 0.4 meters per second.

"When you crunch the numbers, that's the fastest race ever run," Boldon said, "but the wind was against me."

Boldon, who had psyched himself for a record run at Athens and was even more pumped before the race when the wind was favorable, is hoping the conditions change within the next few days.

"I would like to see the athletes run with the wind at their back," he said. "The sprinters are concerned that the wing will be in their face. I hope they will turn it [the direction of the race] around."

One of Boldon's training partners, Maurice Greene, has equaled or broken the world record twice this year, but both marks were negated by tailwinds in excess of 2.0 meters per second (4.43 mph), above the limit for recognition by track and field's world governing body, the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

Greene, the 1997 world champion, won the Prefontaine Classic at Eugene, Ore., in 9.79, but the wind was 2.9 meters per second, and won his opening-round heat in the USA Championships at New Orleans in 9.84, aided by a 3.3-meters-per-second wind.

His best legal time this year is 9.96, which he has run twice. His career best is 9.86 in winning the 1997 world title at Athens.

"No one knows when the world record will be broken," said Jon Drummond, the 1997 U.S. 200 champion who trains with Boldon and Greene. "The wind could turn around just before the race, like it did for Ato in Athens.

"That's what makes this sport so exciting. We not only have to run against each other, but against the elements."

One runner who will be facing Boldon and Greene - and possibly Drummond - in the 100 will be the outspoken Bailey.

Bailey and Greene have become bitter rivals. Their dislike for each other surfaced in the World Championships, where Greene stuck his tongue out at Bailey after crossing the finish line, and Bailey, the runner-up, downgraded Greene's performance, saying he would have won if he hadn't lost 14 pounds because of food poisoning before the meet.

That intensity heightened early this year when Greene beat Bailey in Australia, then set the world indoor record in the 60, and Bailey said that anyone who breaks a world record should be given an independent blood test in addition to the urine sample now required.

Bailey insisted he wasn't targeting Greene because "I never want to imply that anyone is taking anything [illegal]."

Still, Greene was offended.

Bailey has not run nearly as well as Boldon or Greene this year - his best is only 10.07 - but he has a habit of coming up big in the important races, as attested by his victories in the 1995 World Championships and 1996 Olympics.

That's why Boldon and Greene are leery of him.

"I love running against Donovan," Greene said. "He's a tough competitor. He brings out the best in me. For a meet like this, you have to have Donovan in there. He's the world record-holder."

Boldon said, "Donovan's a great athlete. He's tough, but we've set the standard this year. He's running what we were running at the beginning of the year."

"We just want to finish 1-2 or 1-2-3 if Jon [Drummond] is running."

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