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U.S. relay team criticized for antics
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- Maurice Greene and his teammates on the U.S. men's 400-meter relay squad showed they were the fastest in the world. Then they had to backpedal after a display of jubilation that some other Americans found offensive. The foursome -- Greene, Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams and Brian Lewis -- preened and flexed their muscles during their victory lap and then also on the victory stand while receiving their medals. On the victory lap, the Americans -- two of them barechested and wrapped in the stars and stripes -- postured and posed for several minutes. After getting their medals from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the foursome clowned on the victory stand during "The Star-Spangled Banner." Greene, of Kansas City, Kan., stuck his tongue out at cameras. "The girls were thinking we're kind of ashamed. For us, we tried to handle it with more dignity. That's not the image we want up there," said Nanceen Perry of the U.S. women's 400-meter relay team. "But that's not my call. That's the call of the IOC or the USOC. "The whole way they were going about it, making all sorts of comical faces -- you could do a little bit of that, but they were doing it throughout the national anthem," Perry added. "How do you expect anybody to respect our flag if you don't. I think foreigners think we're rude, anyway, so it just confirms the whole image they have of us."
Greene and Drummond later apologized for their actions, saying they were caught up in the excitement of the moment and were sorry if they offended anyone. "Jon Drummond never won an Olympic gold before, so sorry," Drummond said. "You have a lot of emotion bottled up. Your focus is on one thing for so long. When we finally have that opportunity to exhale, we're just expressing ourselves the way we know how." When the U.S. men's 1,600-meter relay team of Michael Johnson, twin brothers Alvin and Calvin Harrison and Antonio Pettigrew got their gold medals a short time later, they were joyful but polite during the national anthem. Johnson, who has clashed verbally with Greene all year, was asked whether he had seen the antics of the other relay team. "I didn't see it, but I can only imagine," he said with a smile. There was a similar incident at the 1972 Munich Olympics involving Americans Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett, who finished 1-2 in the men's 400 meters and then talked during the national anthem and were booed by German spectators. The two men were banned by the International Olympic Committee from further competition at those games, and the United States was unable to field a 1,600-meter relay team.
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