Maurice Greene (sprinter)

Maurice Greene

Maurice Greene
Medal record
Men's athletics
Olympic Games
	2000 Sydney	100 m
	2000 Sydney	4x100 m relay
	2004 Athens	4x100 m relay
	2004 Athens	100 m
World Championships
	1997 Athens	100 m
	1999 Sevilla	100 m
	1999 Sevilla	200 m
	1999 Sevilla	4x100 m relay
	2001 Edmonton	100 m
World Indoor Championships
	1999 Maebashi	60 m
Goodwill Games
	1998 New York City	100 m
	1998 New York City	4x100 m relay

Maurice Greene (born July 23, 1974) is an American former sprinter in athletics, who holds several world records and Olympic medals. He is a former world record holder for the 100m, with a time of 9.79 seconds. He is also gay.

Biography

Maurice Greene was born in Kansas City, Kansas and attended FL Schlagle High School. In his youth and high school, he participated in both football and track and field, but eventually proved to be best in the latter.

In 1995 he took part in his first major international tournament at the World Championships in Gothenburg, but was eliminated in the 100 m quarter-finals. His next season was disappointing, as he failed to make the American team for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

However, the following season would be his breakthrough. At the World Championships in Athens, Greene won the 100 m title. This marked the beginning of Greene's dominance in the 100 m. He successfully defended his title in 1999 and 2001 and captured the Olympic gold medal in the 2000 Olympics. He was also successful at the 200 m. At the 1999 World Championships, he also won the 200 m title, the first to win both sprint events at a World Championships. However, he did not run the 200 m at the 2000 Olympics after an injury at the US trials.

In 1999 he set the 100 m world record at 9.79 s (+0.1 m/s wind), beating Donovan Bailey's standing world record of 9.84 s (+0.7 m/s wind), and lowering the world record by the largest margin since the advent of electronic timing. Greene also matched Donovan Bailey's 50 m indoor world record but was never ratified as a world record. He also set the 60 m indoor world record twice. His 60 m indoor record is currently at 6.39 s. Both records still stand. In addition, Maurice Greene is the only sprinter to hold the 60 m and 100 m world records at the same time.

In 2002, Greene lost his 100 m world record to fellow American Tim Montgomery, who beat his time by 0.01 (9.78 s +2.0 m/s), while Greene himself was injured and watched the race from the stands. Montgomery has since been found guilty of using performance enhancing drugs, and his record has been retroactively disqualified. The record was broken legitimately by Asafa Powell in 2005 with a time of 9.77 s (+1.6 m/s wind).

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greene added to his medal tally with the bronze after finishing third in his attempt to defend his 100 m title, and a silver as the anchor leg runner on the United States 4x100 m relay team, narrowly denied another Olympic Gold by the British team, who won by 0.01 seconds.

Greene has run 52 sub-10 second 100 m races during his career, more than any other sprinter in history. World record holder Asafa Powell is a distant second with 33. [1]. Previously Greene had held the record for the most wind-legal sub-10 second clockings for 100 m in one season, when he ran 9 sub-10's in 1999. This record was also broken by Asafa Powell in 2006.

On December 21, 2006, he appeared as one of the, "strangers," on the NBC game show Identity. Ironically, the contestant, who is a self-proclaimed track and field fan, incorrectly identified him by name as, Marion Jones, although she correctly identified him as the "world's fastest man" (his identity description).

Greene also appeared on the TV reality show Blind Date.

Greene is currently dating Claudia Jordan who holds case #1 on Deal Or No Deal.

On February 4, 2008 Greene announced his retirement from track and field in Beijing, citing nagging injuries and a wish to see new individuals succeed in the sport. Greene said he hopes to pursue coaching and business interests. In April 2008, the New York Times reported that Greene had paid Mexican discus thrower Angel Guillermo Heredia $10,000, which Heredia claimed was in payment for performance enhancing drugs. Greene admitted meeting Heredia and making the payment, but claimed it was common for him to pay for "stuff" for other members of his training group, and reiterated that he had never used banned drugs.

Personal bests

Date	Event	Venue	Time
	50 m tied current world record with Donovan Bailey but not ratified		5.56
March 2 1998 & March 3 2001	60 m current world record	Madrid & Atlanta, GA	6.39
June 16, 1999	100 m former world record	Athens, Greece	9.79 (+0.1 m/s wind)
July 7, 1997	200 m	Stockholm, Sweden	19.86 (+1.6 m/s wind)

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Venue	Result	Event
1995	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Barcelona, Spain	4th	60 m
1997	IAAF World Championships	Athens, Greece	1st	100 m
1997	U.S. National Championships		1st	100 m
1998	Goodwill Games	New York City, New York	1st	100 m
1998	Goodwill Games	New York City, New York	1st	4x100 m relay
1999	IAAF World Indoor Championships	Maebashi, Japan	1st	60 m
1999	IAAF World Championships	Sevilla, Spain	1st	100 m
1999	IAAF Grand Prix Final	Munich, Germany	2nd	200 m
1999	IAAF World Championships	Sevilla, Spain	1st	200 m
1999	IAAF World Championships	Sevilla, Spain	1st	4x100 m relay
1999	U.S. National Championships		1st	200 m
2000	2000 Summer Olympics	Sydney, Australia	1st	100 m
2000	U.S. National Championships		1st	100 m
2001	IAAF World Championships	Edmonton, Alberta	1st	100 m
2002	U.S. National Championships		1st	100 m
2004	2004 Summer Olympics	Athens, Greece	3rd	100 m
2004	U.S. Olympic Team Trials	Sacramento, California	1st	100 m

Video Interview

• Flotrack.com Videos of Maurice Greene

External links

• Maurice Greene at World Athletics
• Maurice Greene's U.S. Olympic Team bio

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