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The good, the bad and the in-between
Updated: Sunday August 12, 2001 10:50 PM
EDMONTON, Alberta -- In the wake of the Edmonton track and field world championships, a medal ceremony of my own: GOLD Marion Jones: Nope, she didn't win the 100 meters, losing for the first time in 43 finals. Yup, she lumbered through the slowest 200-meter world-championship victory in history. Fact is, she's not the Mrs. Jones of 2000. So what? She's the only athlete to leave Canada with two gold medals (200 and 4x100 relay), she handled her first loss in ages with professionalism and dignity, and she made a tired body perform. Jones got bigger by losing. Jan Zelezny: The Czech javelin thrower won his third world title Sunday (to go with three Olympic golds) with his longest throw in four years (304 feet, five inches). At age 35, he is better than ever. There is no sight in track quite like Zelezny's javelin sailing through the air, as if propelled by unseen forces. It is beyond breathtaking. Maurice Greene: While so many Sydney gold medalists struggled to stay on top (Jones, for instance) or didn't even try ( Cathy Freeman is taking the year off), Greene won his third world title in five years. Tim Montgomery is getting closer and Mo is getting older and more fragile, but until he loses, he's the Man. One more Olympic gold and -- sorry, Carl -- Greene is the greatest 100-meter man in history. Jon Drummond: Dude limped through the leadoff leg of the opening round of the men's four-by-one, off the charts on the grit-meter. "From the time you start running, coaches tell you if you feel something in your leg, stop," said Montgomery. "Jon Drummond pushed on, so we could win the gold medal." SILVER Hicham El Guerrouj: He won his third world title in the 1,500 Sunday, walking across the line in 3:30.68. Only a dozen men in history have run faster, all out. El Guerrouj is a huge talent, but now he leaves the 1,500 for the 5,000 -- never having won an Olympic gold medal -- and that is a shame. On the other hand, he'll run low-12:50s right away in the 5K. Zhanna Pintusevich-Block: Sure, Jones was off her game. But somebody had to step up and take her down. Pintusevich-Block had the guts to try. Now let's see what happens in Zurich next Friday. Don't rule out another upset. Medal newcomers: The IAAF wants developing nations to succeed. A woman from Senegal, Amy Mbacke Thiam, won a gold medal in the 400 meters. The program is working, and as USA Track & Field CEO Craig Masback said, "It's clearly getting more difficult to win medals." BRONZE Kenya: In Sydney, the world's most esteemed distance-running nation was embarrassed that Ethiopian men won gold medals at 5,000, 10,000 and in the marathon. In Edmonton, Kenyan men won the 5K and 10K and finished second -- to an Ethiopian -- in the marathon. Canadians: Bless their hearts. The men and women from up north were cheered breathlessly by their compatriots, but won nary a medal. Their best hopes, Jason Tunks in the discus and Kevin Sullivan in the 1,500, performed as if carrying the old Montreal Forum on their backs. Hope the Greeks have fun in 2004, because there's only a few of them, too. U.S. men's gold-medal 4x100 relay team: Hey, Mickey Grimes, Bernard Williams, Dennis Mitchell and Tim Montgomery: That was such a sedate walk Sunday we thought you'd lost. Very smart. Very appropriate. Hats off. FALSE STARTS/DISQUALIFICATIONS International track in North America: The crowds at Commonwealth Stadium got better as the meet unfolded. Still, prior to the final weekend, it was seldom more than half full. To be fair, Athens and Seville did only slightly better, but the IAAF is predisposed to slight this side of the globe. Don't look for another major championship soon. Khalid Khannouchi: I have no idea how bad his marathon blisters were, but after spending several years talking about how much he wanted to run for the U.S. in an international marathon, he would have done his reputation a big favor by dragging himself to the finish in whatever time was required. Or just stop talking about wearing the old red, white and blue. U.S. women's 1,500-meter runners: Suzy Favor Hamilton fell to the track with a lap left in her semifinal, obviously fighting emotional demons that paralyze her in major championships. Regina Jacobs dropped out of her first-round heat, battling what she said was a heel injury. It's time to turn the page. Men's 200 meters: Sorry, but I can't climb on the Konstandinos Kederis bandwagon quite yet. The Greek sprinter has now got an Olympic gold medal and a world title, yet he's never broken 20 seconds. The event is soft, and Kederis simply is in the right place at the right time. If he holds up until Athens, I'll be shocked. Somebody has got to come along and run faster. Everybody associated with the Olga Yegorova Affair: The IAAF and the Paris lab botched Yegorova's EPO testing. Yegorova ticked everybody off with her unblinking bravado (and searing 400-meter kick to win the 5,000) in the face of a test that seemed accurate, only to have been bounced on a technicality. Romanian Gabriela Szabo positioned herself as the wounded waif, running against the drug-fueled Russian. She should have known better, because, at the very least, she's been accused of the same thing by other runners. Not a good meet in the clean-athlete business.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Tim Layden covers track and field for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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