Athletics: American sprints past Johnson scandal

PARIS - Since one of the darkest days in Olympic history, the official world men's 100m record has been held by Carl Lewis, Leroy Burrell, Donovan Bailey and Maurice Greene.

But the 9.79 seconds clocked by a drugs-fuelled Ben Johnson in the 1988 Seoul Olympics final, subsequently struck from the record books, had not been bettered in 14 years before yesterday when Tim Montgomery electrified a modest Grand Prix athletics final with a time of 9.78s.

Montgomery's mark was one-hundredth of a second faster than Maurice Greene's 9.79s set three years ago in Athens. The 27-year-old American is also now unquestionably the fastest man in history.

nte In 1994, on a grass track, Montgomery clocked 9.96s to win the Junior Colleges title, easily a world record for a junior.

Montgomery raced against Burrell when he clocked a world record of 9.85s in Lausanne in 1994. He was in the field when Greene set his mark three years ago. In 1996 he watched from the stands as Canadian Bailey set his record of 9.84s at the Atlanta Olympics.

"I knew all along I could break it [the world record]," Montgomery said.

Everything fell into place yesterday. After Montgomery's training partner Marion Jones clocked 10.88s in the women's race, Montgomery felt he could run fast.

He ran in lane five, the same as Jones, and even used her starting blocks. He also anticipated the gun perfectly.

Olympic double sprint champion Jones, unexpectedly upstaged on the day when she won the women's overall Grand Prix title for the second time, was delighted at her friend's success.

Johnson's malign legacy to both the Olympic movement and his sport still lingers. At the end of a week when it was confirmed that a second sample taken from new world steeplechase record holder Brahim Boulami was positive, Jones was asked about the suspicion inevitably attached to world records.

"I think it's really unfortunate," she replied. "You have such an incredible performance today and you have someone who will immediately suspect something. I think we are all here today to celebrate something outstanding.

"We are proponents of a drug-free sport and we always have been and we will always will be."

Montgomery's triumph spoiled the 28th birthday celebrations of Moroccan 1500m world recordholder Hicham El Guerrouj as the triple world champion saw $US100,000 ($212,900) snatched from his grasp as overall Grand Prix champion.

Half an hour after completing his lap of celebration, El Guerrouj watched open-mouthed as Montgomery soared in to finish equal on points, with the Dominican Republic's 400m hurdler Felix Sanchez.

The American took the cash jackpot on the tiebreak for breaking a world record this season.

- AGENCIES