Boldon, Greene Pull a Fast One on the World’s Fastest Human

ATHENS — Donovan Bailey, tenuous holder of the title of World’s Fastest Human, left Olympic Stadium with nary a word Saturday, perhaps seeking a quiet spot away from the awful racket being kicked up by Ato Boldon and Maurice Greene.

“Release the hounds!” Greene bellowed as he and Boldon strutted off the track after knocking off the fifth- and sixth-fastest 100-meter runs of all time--in the same preliminary heat.

“I’ve been telling everybody--9.7! It’s going to happen!” crowed Boldon, who had just completed his quarterfinal heat at the IAAF World Championships in 9.87 seconds, .03 shy of Bailey’s year-old world record of 9.84.

A world record, Greene and others believe, won’t last another 24 hours.

“The world record is gone! It’s gone!” Greene proclaimed, still fairly wound up after a personal-best time of 9.90--sixth fastest in history, yet only second fastest in his heat.

Greene’s American teammate Tim Montgomery and Namibia’s Frank Fredericks both ran 9.99 quarterfinal heats, also faster than Bailey’s 10.10, and, yes, if you’re asking, the crowd around Bailey’s heels seems to be swelling.

This is mighty fast running--but is it smart running?

Two more rounds beckon tonight, the semifinals followed three hours later by the finals. As Marion Jones commented after cruising through her women’s 100-meter quarterfinal heat in a nice and easy 10.96 seconds, “It’s the second round. You don’t want to exert all your energy.”

So what were Boldon and Greene doing, turning personal bests in the second round?

Weren’t they recklessly risking burning themselves out before the finals?

“I probably ran a little faster than I wanted,” Boldon acknowledged. “But I’ll have all of [Saturday night] to rest. . . . That’s what happens when you put me and Maurice in the same heat. I don’t want to lose to him and he doesn’t want to lose to me.”

Boldon, the 100-meter bronze medalist at last summer’s Olympic Games, runs for Trinidad but trains in Los Angeles with Greene. The two have become friendly rivals, pushing each other in workouts, trading barbs and trash talk over meals.

A fellow training partner, U.S. 200-meter sprinter Jon Drummond, recalled a dinner conversation between Boldon and Greene at last month’s nationals in Indianapolis.

Boldon: “We’re going 1-2 at the worlds, Maurice.”

Greene: “Yeah, man. Just make sure nobody beats you. Because, you know, silver’s a step up for you.”

Come the world championships, Boldon and Greene find themselves placed in the same quarterfinal heat, with nothing left to do but walk the walk in near-record time.

“When I saw that,” Drummond said of the draw, “I said, ‘Who’s playin’ [around]? They want to break the world record today?’ ”

Save it for the finals, once you’ve cornered the world’s attention--that is the traditional meet strategy. Giving Bailey the benefit of the doubt, the best that can be said about his second-round run is that he qualified for the semifinals.

Bailey wasn’t in a mood to talk afterward, brushing past reporters in silence on his way out of the stadium, but Canadian teammate Robert Esmie cautioned against reading too much into Bailey’s lackluster time.

“He made it through,” Esmie said. “Donovan is a dangerous man. Show him the money before the face and it’s over.”

The women’s 100-meter championships will also be decided tonight, with Jones predicting a winning time of “sub-11, without a doubt. I feel I’m ready to go sub-10.9.”

Jones, the U.S. national champion at 100 meters, won her heat in 10.96, the fastest time of the quarterfinals. Jamaica’s Merlene Ottey, 1996 Olympic silver medalist in the event, was next at 11.00, with Americans Chryste Gaines (11.19) and Inger Miller (11.23) also qualifying for the semifinals.

Jones’ forecast for the finals?

“When I come away with the world tomorrow, that’ll be the highlight of my career.”

That’s how it is with sprinters.

Fast movers, fast talkers.

And none faster than Boldon, who promises a new men’s world record before another nightfall.

“I don’t like to insult the world record by saying it’s ‘soft,’ ” Boldon said, “but if you look at the 200 and the 400, you know the 100 could go a lot lower. . . .

“My dream is 9.8. But I’ll be happy with 9.81.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

World Track Today

Men: Javelin qualifying; long jump qualifying; 3,000 steeplechase first round; 400 first, second rounds; hammer final; 100 semifinals, final; 1,500 first round; 400 hurdles semifinals; 10,000 first round.

Women: Heptathlon 100 hurdles, high jump, shotput, 200; 100 semifinals, final; 400 semifinals; 1,500 semifinals.

TV: 10 a.m., Channel 4