Greene to run all rounds of 4 x 100m relay

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Sydney: World 100-metre record holder and newly crowned Olympic Champion Maurice Greene said on Thursday that he would run all rounds of the 4 x 100 metre relay for the United States.

US coach John Chaplin had said earlier in the week that Greene was sore after his 100-metre victory and might skip the first round. Greene told reporters he had offered not to run the first round of the relay on Friday if it meant others could run.

Originally, US coaches said they wanted to run the same four sprinters in all three rounds of the relay. But after US relay members met privately this week, the coaches agreed to a compromise that would allow six members of the relay pool to compete at some point.

As a result, Kenny Brokenburr, Tim Montgomery, Brian Lewis and Greene will run the opening round with Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Lewis and Greene running the semi-finals and final.

The decision leaves Greene's training partner Curtis Johnson out of the relay mix. Greene said he was upset with the decision, but that it would not detract from his goal of winning the gold.

Drummond said he had been told by US coaches that Johnson, the US Olympic trials 100-metre runner-up, had not shown the fitness in recent weeks of the other relay selections. Johnson said the decision ''stinks''. ''It's like losing a family member,'' he said.

US Congressman Dan Miller of Bradenton, Florida, who represents Johnson's district, has faxed US Olympic Committee president Bill Hybl a letter asking why Johnson was left off the relay team.

US coaches announced that Olympic champions Marion Jones and Michael Johnson had been selected to final women's and men's 4 x 400m relay pools.

Jones, who is seeking five gold medals in the Sydney Games, will be joined by Jearl Miles-Clark, Latasha Colander-Richardson, Monique Hennagan, Mikele Barber and Andrea Anderson in the relay pool.

The final lineups will be determined shortly before the first round, US women's coach Karen Dennis said. Two-times Olympic 400-metre champion Johnson will be joined by Olympic silver medallist Alvin Harrison, 400-metre hurdles gold medallist Angelo Taylor, former world champion Antonio Pettigrew, Jerome Young and Harrison's twin brother Calvin in the men's pool.

All will compete either in Friday's first round or Saturday's final, coach John Chaplin said.



(c) Reuters Limited.