Maurice Greene (athlete)

Greene at the 2000 Olympic Games

Maurice Greene ( born July 23, 1974 in Kansas City, Kansas ) is a former American track and field athlete. He was twice Olympic champion and five times world champion. Until 2005 he was the world record holder in the 100 -meter run.

Career

During his school years, Greene was both athlete and American football player. But it soon became clear that his achievements in the sprint were better.

In 1995, Greene first time at a major international competition in part, the World Championships in Gothenburg; However, he was not there in the 100 - meter race on the quarter- final run out. His next season was also disappointing: He managed to qualify for the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta not. However, he did not miss it, live watch the on Olympic final from the stands. This gave him impetus for the rest of his career.

1997, however, finally came the breakthrough. At the World Championships in Athens, he won the 100 - meter race. In the following years he dominated this discipline and defended in 1999 and 2001 his world title. In 1998 he presented also in Madrid a new world record in the 60 -meter run to (6.39 s ), which he in Atlanta with the same period in 2001 confirmed once again. In 1999, he equaled Donovan Bailey's 50-meter world record of 5.56 s at the World Championships 1999 he not only defended his title in the 100 meters, but also won the race over 200 meters. He was thus the first person who won both sprint distances at the World Championships for themselves. On 16 June 1999 he presented at a meeting in Athens on another world record; he ran the 100 meters in 9.79 s

Greene's previously most important success was the victory in the 100 - meter race at the Olympic Summer Games 2000 in Sydney. 2002 Greene lost his world record to his compatriot Tim Montgomery, who undercut the old record by one hundredth of a second. Greene was then injured and had to watch the race from the stands. Montgomery's time, however, was deleted from the result lists, as he was suspended for doping abuse. Thus, Greene held the world record from 1999 to 2005, as Asafa Powell aufstellte a new record. At the World Championships 2001 he defended his title in the 100 meters.

Greene's big goal was to defend the title of the Olympic gold medal in Sydney in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He wanted to repeat the performance of Carl Lewis in 1984 and 1988. However, this was not. He still won the bronze medal. 2005, at the World Championships in Helsinki, it was used only in the 4 x 100 - meter relay, as he had been injured at the U.S. Trials and so qualifying for the 100 meters could not make it. For a start in the final, it did not come then, however, as the American squadron was disqualified in the semifinals.

On 4 February 2008 Greene announced his resignation as athlete. He justified his decision by saying that he no longer had the mental strength after his many injuries to come back. " It costs a lot of power, it pulls you down and makes you depressed. "

In April 2008, the New York Times reported that Greene had given the Mexicans Angel Guillermo Heredia $ 10,000 for a doping agent. Greene admitted the payment, but claimed he had paid for other members of his training group. Heredia casts Greene as witness before the U.S. Department of Justice to have Greene supplied with doping substances IGF- 1, IGF -2, EPO and ATP. Greene was caught doping sinner like other member of the training group of John Smith.

Maurice Greene has a competition weight of 75 kg at a height of 1.76 m.

Statistics

100-meter times under 10 seconds

Bests