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Australian apologizes for remarks
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- The Australian long jumper who made racial remarks toward two American jumpers apologized Thursday, but Savante Stringfellow and Melvin Lister were not forgiving. "I don't accept his apology," Stringfellow said. "I can't accept what he said. If he didn't mean it, why did he say it?" "When a guy says something like that, 95 percent of the time he means it," Lister said. "You can talk trash all you want, but racial comments will never come out of my mouth." Australian Jai Taurima said earlier in the week that because of the cool conditions expected for the Sydney Olympics, "you can pretty much knock out all the dark guys." "We jumped in Salamanca [Spain] a month ago, and those guys just couldn't compete well in bad conditions," Taurima added. "It was wet and cold." Stringfellow compared Taurima's remarks to those made by Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker last year when he made disparaging comments about foreigners, gays, minorities and New Yorkers. Lister, winner of the U.S. Olympic trials, and Stringfellow, the U.S. indoor champion and NCAA outdoor champion, both of whom are black, were seething when told of Taurima's statements. "I would rank them the same as the John Rocker comments," Stringfellow said. "That was very unprofessional on his part. Maybe he doesn't know any better." "I can understand him having the confidence to beat us -- but to come at us racially," Lister said. "I want him to know I wasn't satisfied with the comments he made. All that can do is cause animosity between the U.S. and Australia." Taurima was a bit remorseful Thursday. "I'm quite sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to attack them personally. It was not intended as a racial slur. I didn't mean to upset them at all." Those comments were made to the Australian media, but not to the American athletes. "We heard he apologized, but he hasn't said anything to us," Stringfellow said. "We haven't heard it from him." Taurima's best is 27 feet, 4 3/4 inches. Lister, the NCAA indoor and outdoor champion in 1999, has jumped 27-10 1/4 this year, and Stringfellow's best is 27-2 3/4. Lister said that the Americans have been treated very well since arriving in Australia on Aug. 21 to train for the Olympics and he would not let one athlete spoil the situation. "We haven't said anything to cross anybody," he said. Taurima -- a Queensland resident whose father is Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand -- also dismissed any chance of U.S. long-jumpers winning a medal in Sydney. Dwight Phillips, the third U.S. jumper, has not yet arrived in Australia. "Americans are Americans, aren't they?" he said. "They only jump big in America. These three guys are a bunch of dribblers. That's all I'm saying. I'm more scared of the two Ukraine and two Russian guys." Taurima, the Australian record-holder and fourth-place finisher in the 1999 World Championships, could not name the Ukrainians and Russians. "What's a dribbler?" Stringfellow said. "This is my official invitation to the Olympic Games. He's somebody who won't be able to back up what he says. He just stuck his foot in his mouth. "Rivals? We don't even count him." "Who is he anyhow?" Lister said. "He doesn't even know who I am. He's never seen us. His teammates don't even have any respect for him. It's also a proven fact that we Americans have come overseas and jumped well." Carl Lewis won the last four Olympic long jump gold medals, with two of the games held overseas -- in Seoul and Barcelona. Mike Powell set the world record of 29-4 1/2 in Tokyo. "I've never heard of a good Australian long jumper," Lister said. "The only long jumper you can talk to me about is Ivan Pedroso [of Cuba, winner in the last four World Indoor Championships and the last three World Outdoor Championships]." Lister and Stringfellow vowed to beat Taurima when they meet Sunday in a tuneup meet for the games. "I wasn't going to jump," Stringfellow said, "but I am now. And mark this down: Whatever he jumps in the first round of the games, I'm going to jump 20 meters farther." "I don't even think he's going to be a factor," Lister said.
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