Olympics
Fresh set of legs in track & field

By Blaine Newnham
Seattle Times associate editor

AP AND GETTY IMAGES Seattle-born Gail Devers will compete in her fifth Olympics and is a favorite in the 100-meter hurdles.

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There is no Carl Lewis, no Michael Johnson, no Marion Jones — not the one we remember, anyway — this time around for America's track-and-field team at the Olympics.

But the United States may collect as many medals as it did four years ago in Sydney — 20 — on the arms and legs of what is largely a new cast.

College students so good they don't go to college, 18-year-old sprinter Allyson Felix and 21-year-old distance runner Alan Webb, examples of prodigies who turned pro nearly out of high school.

Surely, there are veterans, 13 of them who have won medals.

The standard bearer for age and experience has got to be 37-year-old Gail Devers. The Seattle-born Devers, competing in her fifth Olympics, made the team in both the 100 meters — where she has twice won gold medals — and in the 100-meter hurdles, where she is a favorite even at her advanced age to finally win gold in that event as well.

Interactive graphic  Long jump

As usual, America's strength is in the sprints and hurdles.

The American men, however, could also sweep the shot put, win the pole vault, long jump, the decathlon and perhaps even get a medal in the javelin from zany Breaux Greer.

The real breakthrough, if it comes, could be in the 1,500 meters. American men have not won a gold medal in races beyond 400 meters since Dave Wottle (800 meters) and Frank Shorter (marathon) did so in Munich in 1972.

Interactive graphic  High jump Fosbury flop technique

Not that Webb should win gold, not against a field that may or may not include the great Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj. But Webb, who broke Jim Ryun's high-school mile record, might have a shot at America's first medal in the metric mile since Ryun's silver in Mexico City in 1968.

U.S. long-distance runners — male marathoners Meb Keflezighi and Alan Culpepper and women marathoners Deena Kastor and Colleen DeReuck — also rate consideration this time around.

In the shorter races, Maurice Greene has returned to the form that won him the gold in the 100 at Sydney. And Allen Johnson, the four-time world champion and 1996 Olympic gold medalist, will be the favorite in the 110 hurdles.

Interactive graphic  Pole vault

But the excitement is in the newcomers, and the depth they provide. Shawn Crawford and Justin Gatlin, for example, made the team in both the 100 and 200, and in the latter were good enough to keep John Capel and Darvis Patton off it.

Even without Jones, the American women will be strong in the sprints with 400-meter convert LaTasha Colander and NCAA champ Lauryn Williams, 20, given shots at medals in the 100.

The question is Torri Edwards, second in both sprints at the trials. A drug test showed she had taken an illegal stimulant at an earlier meet, and an International Association of Athletics Federations review panel recommended Edwards be suspended for a minimum of two years. That means she is out for Athens unless she wins an appeal.

If Edwards doesn't run in the 100 and Devers opts to run only the hurdles, then Jones could run the 100 meters and be a part of the 400-meter relay team.

In any event, American men and women should medal in all four relays and Jones, who will specialize in the long jump, could medal there, if her 23-foot, 4-inch jump in Sacramento, Calif., was any indication.

Interactive graphic  Triple jump

In Sacramento, at the trials, 20-year-old Jeremy Wariner blitzed the field in the 400 meters, running so strongly to suggest that he has a chance to medal.

Two of the women 400-meter runners — veteran Monique Hennagan and newcomer Sanya Richards — broke 50 seconds and rate some medal possibility, as do intermediate hurdlers Sheena Johnson and Lashinda Demus.

As far as the Northwest is concerned, the interest is in the discus, where former Washington star Aretha Hill will contend for a medal in the women's competition and Jarred Rome of Marysville and former Washington State thrower Ian Waltz will do the same in the men's event.

All three are among the top 10 in the world in their respective events. All three are 27 years old.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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