Johnson Lights the Fire, Boldon Fuels the Flame

SACRAMENTO — Separated from the track by a wire fence and a passport, Ato Boldon has been trapped in the worst kind of Sprinter’s Purgatory at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials.

He can watch, he can talk, but he cannot run.

Boldon, a double bronze medalist at 100 and 200 meters at the 1996 Olympics, lives and trains in Los Angeles, but competes internationally under the flag of Trinidad and Tobago. As such, he has already earned his pass to the 2000 Olympics, taking the easy way to Sydney. But as he watched HSI teammates Maurice Greene, Jon Drummond, Curtis Johnson and Inger Miller pump through their 100-meter qualifying heats Friday, Boldon was tormented by an overwhelming need to speed.

“I kept telling my manager, ‘Get me a passport! We’ve got one heat left!’ ” Boldon said.

Greene, his good friend, had just aced his heat in 9.93 seconds, to that point the second-fastest time in the world this year. After a congratulatory bump of chests with an exultant and overheated Greene, Boldon turned to a few reporters to explain what had just happened.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen Maurice this motivated,” Boldon said. “What you saw out there today was a combinations of three things:

“One, Jonathan Carter telling him before the race, ‘You’re going to need a 9.7 to win this thing.’

“Two, that newspaper articles we all woke up to this morning.

“Three, the media looking at some of his recent races and calling him ‘inconsistent’ and ‘vulnerable.’ ”

The newspaper article in question was a guest commentary by Michael Johnson appearing in USA Today. Johnson broadsided Greene and the HSI club, joining in on the “inconsistent” chorus, chiding Greene for a lack of smarts because he has run in too many races too close to the trials and deriding HSI runners for having lost their focus and “rest[ing] on what they did last year.”

As he stared at those words, Boldon could scarcely believe what he was reading.

“I have always respected Michael Johnson. That’s beginning to change,” Boldon said. “My coach has told me that’s a problem for me--’You can’t beat people you respect too much.’ I always had the utmost respect for Michael, but that respect is going quickly.”

One of the all-time great extroverts in the sport, Boldon had been conspicuously silent as Greene and Johnson waged their war of words on the road to the 200-meter final in Sydney. Boldon figures to be in that race too--he won the 200-meter world championship in 1997--but judging from the press clippings, you’d never guess it was more than a one-on-one invitational.

Which had been fine with Boldon.

“I was trying to be quiet and do my talking in Sydney,” Boldon said. “Michael and Maurice have been doing their thing, fine. But now, I’ve been dragged into it.

“Michael has given us a great motivational tool. You talk about bulletin board material? We’ve got a ton of it now. . . .

“You listen to him talk and it’s always, like, ‘Michael . . . and Company.’ Well, I hope Michael is prepared. Because ‘Company’ is going to come with it next Sunday.”

Next Sunday, of course, is the anticipated showdown between Johnson and Greene in the 200-meter final, which is growing more anticipated by the hour.

“Maurice has his tactics,” Boldon said. “I guess Michael does too.”

RAGE AGAINST THE OTHER SPRINTERS

Scientific theory, yet to be disproved by empirical research: When it comes to running and runners, the shorter the race, the bigger the mouth.

What is it about the 100- and 200-meter sprints that sends the trash-talk and vitriol spewing like a well-shaken carbonated soda?

“I think all sprinters do that,” Boldon said. “We don’t expect people who don’t [sprint] to understand it. People think boxers talk a lot. Same thing, they’re all alone out there.

“It’s like when you put your head on your pillow at night. You’re all by yourself.”

One notable exception had been Johnson, ever stoic in interviews, carrying himself as he if were above all the low-level riff-raff.

No, Johnson rarely talks trash. But, evidently, he knows how to write it.

DO OR WATCH THE TAPE-DELAY ON NBC

From a track fan’s perspective, the best thing about the U.S. Olympic trials is the top-three-or-else qualifying format. With no safety net of wild cards and injury exemptions, athletes are forced to compete and compete well if they want to reach the Summer Games. It makes for compelling viewing--kind of like “Survivor” in spikes. Once you’re tossed off the island, there’s no appealing to the tribunal for reinstatement on the strength of past coconut carvings.

The result is the type of track meet USA Track and Field needs if it is to rekindle American mainstream interest in the sport. But, in the pursuit of doing the right thing, victims are sometimes left in the wake.

Exhibit A: Jeff Hartwig, American pole vault record holder, not going to Sydney.

Hartwig bombed out in Friday’s qualifying competition, failing to clear the required height of

18 feet 2 inches, and will watch today’s final round from the sidelines.

“Our system is a real system,” Hartwig said of the trials’ qualification format. “People have asked me, ‘If you go to the trials and don’t do well, is there anything you can do or anyone you can talk to to override it?’

“Nope. That’s not the way it works. It’s one day.”

Thus, America’s best male pole vaulter won’t be performing in Sydney. A shame? Yes. A crime? No. The system is the great equalizer--no one, and no reputation, is above the law--and from a greater perspective, that can only be good for the sport.

Johnson, who has benefited from the IAAF’s wild-card program to win world championships, predictably offers a dissenting view.

“Maybe they should adopt a policy like the IAAF has, with wild cards, so that a defending Olympic gold medalist or a world-record holder or whoever-- someone everybody wants to see at the Olympic Games--gets injured or [wasn’t fit] on the day of the trials, then that person is still there.

“So those people who may be saying, ‘Oh, Michael, you’re saying that for yourself,’ this is my last Olympics. I’m here at these trials, so [a wild-card policy] won’t benefit me as an athlete. It will definitely benefit me as a fan. I don’t want to be sitting there watching other athletes and I’m disappointed because the guy I wanted to see has gotten hurt or injured or whatever.”

ON THE ERITREA-SYDNEY SHUTTLE

The Eritrean national flag flew at the U.S. trials Friday, carried along with Old Glory by surprise men’s 10,000-meter champion Mebrahtom Keflezighi, who fled war-ravaged Eritrea as a child and went on to win multiple NCAA long-distance titles at UCLA.

A citizen of both countries, Keflezighi waved both flags after taking a victory lap at Hornet Stadium, having held off a late charge by Alan Culpepper to win the final in 28 minutes 3.32 seconds.

“I thank America for the opportunity to compete,” Keflezighi said. “When I graduated from UCLA, I talked with Coach [Bob] Larsen and we set our goal for Sydney then. . . . The talent was there; I just needed the chance to work hard.”

Larsen, who had successful prostate cancer surgery last month, was back on the job Friday, assisting Keflezighi as the runner made his move to pull away from the pack at around 6,500 meters.

“Once I made the break, I went after it and tried to focus on rhythm and keeping light,” Keflezighi said. “Coach was waving me to go, go, go. I didn’t really start feeling the effects of the surge until the [next to last] lap, around 800 to go, but I hung in there the best I could.”

Culpepper, the defending U.S. champion, nearly caught Keflezighi at the finish, crossing the line only .03 seconds behind the winner.

“I was shocked,” Keflezighi said. “I didn’t know he was there.”

After winning NCAA cross-country, 5,000- and 10,000-meter championships for UCLA in 1997, Keflezighi was cast as the future of American distance running. But that potential had been stalled because of a lengthy string of knee injuries, including a bout of tendinitis that restricted his training during the spring.

Finally, Friday, Keflezighi was fit when it mattered most.

“I knew if I could stay healthy, I could achieve it,” Keflezighi said.