Seville Diary

A 6.20m effort with her second jump put her more than 200 points adrift of Barber’s total, on 4905pts, with just two events – the javelin and 800-metre run, to come on Sunday evening.

Much, then depended on Lewis’s final attempt. It was clearly a better jump but the take-off judge raised her red flag immediately. Lewis was outraged. When the action replay was shown on the stadium’s large video screen, it confirmed her feelings that her foot had landed firmly on the board and had not been a foul jump.

With Barber waiting on the long-jump runway for her third jump, Lewis and the chief judge reviewed the video evidence together, which showed the athlete’s foot on the board, and the very tip of her toes seemingly poised over the plasticine foul marker.

Greene’s secret

AtoBoldon, training partner of the world’s fastest man Maurice Greene, said here yesterday that the secret to his friend’s success was that he was so competitive and was the world’s worst loser.

The 25-year-old Trinidadian, who was unable to defend his world 200m title because of an injured right hamstring, added that their coach John Smith had also been indispensable in telling Greene, who won his World Championship quarter-final here yesterday in a time of 9.91, how to run his race and ignore the opposition.

"Maurice is the most competitive man I know," Boldon said. "I mean if we are crossing the street he will want to beat you even though its just a simple everyday walk. I’m used to losing but if Maurice ever loses you want to stay well clear because he drags a black cloud behind him for the next week," Boldon added.