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Inside Olympic Sports
Posted: Tuesday September 11, 2001 2:15 PM
On in an Off
Year
Three bright new faces brought luster to track and field's post-Sydney
season By
Brian
Cazeneuve 
Though post-Olympic years in track and field traditionally are of less than
stellar vintage, 2001 left fans with at least a few memorable tastes. Maurice
Greene, confirmed both his greatness and his grit, dragging a gimpy leg across
the finish line to win the 100-meter title at the worlds in Edmonton in August.
At that same meet, Zhanna Pintusevich-Block of Ukraine ended Marion Jones's
56-race winning streak at 100 meters. Jones earned new respect by being gracious
in defeat -- then went out and beat Pintusevich-Block three times in
subsequent meets. Stacy Dragila continued to scale new heights, taking her world
record in the pole vault to
15' 9 1/4".
| |
Traumatized by traffic in Sydney, Bucher dominated the 800 this year with
front-running
tactics. Bill Frakes |
As is often the case, however, the emergence of new faces gave the year its
fizz. By the time the season wrapped up with the Goodwill Games in Brisbane and
the IAAF Grand Prix Final in Melbourne last weekend, several previously
unheralded athletes had burst onto the scene. Here's a look at three of
them.
Andre Bucher, 24, Switzerland Until last year a moderately accomplished
800-meter runner, Bucher made the Sydney final, but in a rough race was nearly
elbowed off the track and finished fifth. This season he won 11 of 12 races,
consistently running from the front and dominating the event. Bucher, who
clinched the overall IAAF Grand Prix title with a victory in Melbourne, says he
still panics when caught in traffic. This year, he simply outran
it.
Felix Sanchez, 23, Dominican Republic The New York City-born, San
Diego-raised Sanchez became the most successful runner ever to represent the
Dominican Republic, the birthplace of his father, when he won the 400-meter
hurdles at the worlds and then ran his PR (47.38 seconds) last month in Zurich.
A promising outfielder at University City High in San Diego, Sanchez broke his
right wrist wrestling during his sophomore season. Unable to play ball with his
hand in a cast, he went out for track. Sanchez, who says he has run seriously
for only two years, didn't even break 50 seconds until
1998.
Avard Moncur, 22, Bahamas The Auburn grad became the first runner from
the island nation to win an individual track event at a worlds or Olympics when
he won the 400 in Edmonton. Moncur grew up training on a grass field at Fort
Charlotte, where Henry Rolle, now Bahama's chief running guru, began to mentor
him. Rolle recalls begging officials to put his protégé on the
nation's junior team. Soon Moncur's beaming face will adorn a mural that will
greet travelers in Nassau International
Airport.
Issue date: September 17, 2001
For more Inside Olympics see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, September 12. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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