Notes from the Worlds: Parade of Champions led by Californians - USATF - 8-20-2003

Notes from the Worlds: Parade of Champions led by Californians - USATF
8-20-2003

PARIS – While Team USA in 2003 has more young athletes on its roster at the World Outdoor Track & Field Championships than in recent years, the Americans don’t lack for World Championships veterans – and legends.

Led by four-time individual champion Gail Devers, seven past World Championships individual-event gold medalists will compete in their specialties in 2003. (In addition, 1999 200m world champion and 1997 4x100m gold medalist Inger Miller is part of the 4x100m relay pool.) Five of those athletes are multiple champions in their individual events, and four athletes – Devers, Maurice Greene, Allen Johnson and John Godina – have won at least three individual titles.

• Gail Devers: (ex-Sweetwater HS/National City - UCLA) The incomparable Devers has won the 100m hurdles world title on three occasions (’93, ’95, ’99) and was the 100m dash gold medalist in 1993. The only woman from any country to match Devers’ five overall golds is Marion Jones, who ran on the American record-setting 4x100m relay team (41.47) that accounts for Devers’ fifth gold, from 1997. The 1992 and ’96 Olympic gold medalist in the 100m dash, Devers was the World Championships silver medalist in the hurdles in 1991 and 2001. She is coming off of a phenomenal 2003 indoor campaign, where she twice broke the American record in the 60m hurdles (best of 7.74 at the USA Indoor Championships semifinals) and won her first World Indoor title in the event. Although a troublesome hamstring has forced the 9-time U.S. hurdles champion and American record holder (12.33) to compete sparingly during the 2003 outdoor season, on Tuesday the IAAF announced that Devers has taken over the number one spot in the Women’s Overall IAAF World Ranking following an impressive win at the Zurich Weltklasse Golden League meet last Friday. Devers crossed the line in 12.50 (1386 points IAAF Performance Scores), moving her up two places to first in the Overall Ranking. After winning the 100m hurdles and placing third in the 100 dash at the 2003 U.S. Outdoor Championships, the 36-year-old Devers will compete in both events in Paris and is in the 4x100m relay pool as well.

• Maurice Greene: (HSI Track Club based in California) Greene’s track record makes him the greatest men’s short sprinter in World Championships history. His three 100m gold medals (’97, ’99, ’01) is matched only by Carl Lewis, and no other man has won the 100 and 200 at the same Championships (’99). In fact, no other man has won World Championships gold medals in both events, regardless of timeframe. Greene’s 4x100m relay gold medals in 1997 and ’99 bring his golden World Championships medal total to five, and gold is the only color of medal he has ever won at Worlds. The 2000 Olympic 100m gold medalist and the world indoor record holder in the 60m dash (6.39), Greene’s personal best of 9.79 in the 100 meters stood as the world record until September, 2002, when Tim Montgomery ran 9.78 at the Grand Prix Final in Paris. Greene is entered in the 100 meters and the 4x100m relay pool at the 2003 World Championships.

• Allen Johnson: Another three-time world champion for the United States, Johnson joins Greene in attempting to become the only four-time world champion ever in his event, the 110m hurdles. The 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Johnson is the 1995, ’97 and ’01 world 110 hurdles champion, matching fellow American Greg Foster’s three world titles (’83, ’87, ’91). Also like Greene, Johnson has never won any medal other than gold at Worlds: in 1997 he ran in the rounds of the 4x400m relay to bring his all-time medal total to four. In Paris Johnson, a six-time U.S. champion, looks to make a sweep of the 2003 world titles after winning the World Indoor 60m hurdles title in March.

• John Godina: (from Wyoming originally as prep, attended UCLA) The 1995, ’97 and ’01 World Champion, Godina looks for his fourth world title in 2003 and is another athlete to only win gold at the World Outdoor Championships. The most decorated shot putter in U.S. history and the most dominant athlete in his event ever on the World Championships level, Godina also boasts the 2001 World Indoor title, 1996 Olympic silver medal, 2000 Olympic bronze, 2003 and 1999 World Indoor silver, and 1997 World Indoor bronze medals on his resume. A finger injury in May has somewhat hampered his 2003 outdoor campaign, but Godina has competed only twice since placing second at the 2003 USA Outdoor Championships – his last meet was July 6 in Padua – and he looks to be ready to go in Paris.

• Stacy Dragila: (Placer HS of Auburn as a prep started vaulting at Idaho State University) Since 1999 the standard-bearer of the women’s pole vault, Dragila is used to being the target of her competition at international championships. The two-time defending World Championships gold medalist and 2000 Olympic champion in the event is the only woman ever to win the women’s vault in World Championships or Olympic competition. The 7-time U.S. outdoor champion will face the stiffest Russian threat yet to her supremacy in Paris, with world indoor record holder (4.80m/15-9) Svetlana Feofanova – second to Dragila at Worlds in 2001 – and world outdoor record holder Yelena Isinbayeva (4.82m/15-9.75) leading the field of challengers to her throne. Dragila owns a personal best of 4.81m/15-9.25, and she improved her indoor PR in 2003 when she cleared a then world record of 4.78m/15-8.25 March 2 at the USA Indoor Championships. Both marks are American records and former world records.

• Anjanette Kirkland: The 2001 World champion both indoors and outdoors in the sprint hurdles, Kirkland is the great unknown factor for the U.S. team in Paris. On May 4, she and U.S. 100m champion Bernard Williams had their first child together, daughter Jadin Williams. Kirkland has not competed since the 2002 outdoor season, when she was third in Paris at the Grand Prix Final. What is certain is that Kirkland saves her best for World Championships competition: she won the 2001 World Outdoor title in the 100m hurdles with a personal-best time of 12.42, and her 7.85 in winning the 2001 World Indoor title also was a PR.

• Jearl Miles-Clark: The 1993 world champion in the 400 meters, Miles Clark in Paris will compete in the 800 meters – an event in which she holds the American record (1:56.40) – and the 4x400m relay – an event in which she owns two additional World Championships gold medals(’93, ’95) and three Worlds silver medals (’91, ’97, ’99). She is tied with Gail Devers and Gwen Torrence for second on the all-time World Championships medal count with eight, and she is the only woman ever to run anchor leg on U.S. 4x400m relay teams that have won World Championships gold. The 1997 World Indoor 400m gold medalist, Miles-Clark is a two-time World Outdoors bronze medalist in the 400 (’95, ’97), four-time U.S. 400-meter champion and three-time U.S. 800m champion.