Greene, Jones canter to wins in qualifiers

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Sydney: World champion Maurice Greene looked in a class of his own on Friday as he swept to victory in the first two rounds of the Olympic 100 metres.

Greene clocked 10.31 seconds in the first round and 10.10 in the evening session. The world record holder also won a bet with his training partners, Trinidadian Ato Boldon and fellow - Americans Jon Drummond and Curtis Johnson, in the first round.

Greene successfully bet that he could clock the slowest time among the quartet and still win. Olympic champion Donovan Bailey failed to qualify for the semi-finals after finishing last in his second round heat.

Bailey has been suffering from influenza and a respiratory problem this week and looked in trouble when he finished third in his opening round heat in a time of 10.39.

He false-started in the second round and when the race finally got away after a further false start, this time to Ukrainian Kostyantyn Rurak, Bailey appeared to give up at the halfway stage and jogged over the line in eighth and last place.

The 32-year-old Canadian has struggled to reach peak form since a serious Achilles tendon injury two years ago.

In women's 100 metres, Marion Jones completed a successful first day on Friday with untroubled victories in the first two rounds. The 24-year-old American world champion, who plans to win five gold medals at the Games, clocked 11.20 seconds in the morning's first round and 10.83 in the second to win both races.

On Saturday she will run in the semi-finals and, barring accidents or an upset, in the final less than two hours later. She then has a three-day break before returning to competition next Wednesday with the first round of the 200 metres and the long jump qualifying.



(c) Reuters Limited.