`Tired’ Maurice Greene loses again

“Today I’m very tired,” Greene said. “I have been training very hard for the last two years.”

Frankie Fredericks, who missed out on the medals in the Athens 100m and was second behind Trinidad’s Ato Boldon in the 200m, took revenge when he beat Boldon over 200m with a time of 19.93, faster than the winning time of 20.04 in Athens.

Boldon could not live with Fredericks’s stamina and speed in the final 20 metres and slowed up at the finish to take second in 20.11. The Namibian pointed his finger at the crowd at the end as if to say `I told you so’.

American Marion Jones, the women’s world sprint champion who also lost her first 100 race since Athens to veteran Merlene Ottey in Zurich, bounced back with a victory over the Jamaican in the 200 metres in 21.92.

Kenya’s world 5,000 metres champion Daniel Komen stepped down to 1,500 and beat several Olympic champions including Spain’s Fermin Cacho and Algeria’s Noureddine Morceli in three minutes 29.46 seconds.

Cacho, the 1992 Olympic champion and who broke Steve Cram’s 12-year-old European record in Zurich with a time of 3:28.95, could only finish fourth in 3:31.64 with Morceli back in 12th in 3:33.98.

Denmark’s former Kenyan Wilson Kipketer, was clearly not in record-breaking mood although he won the 800m in a quick 1:42.77.