Crawford races to 200 gold, leads U.S. sweep

By Elliott Denman

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece - Shawn Crawford was certainly not the people's choice.

Most of the 75,000-plus fans who jammed into Olympic Stadium on Thursday night made that perfectly clear as the men's 200 meters was about to be run.

``Hellas, Hellas, Hellas (Greece, Greece, Greece),'' they screamed.

And then - even louder - ``Kederis, Kederis, Kederis'' - chanting the name of the popular-but-absent Greek sprinter Kostas Kederis who won the 200 gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics but withdrew from the Athens Games after failing to report for a drug test. It took Olympic officials five minutes to silence the crowd so the seven finalists could have a reasonable chance of hearing the starting gun.

When it finally sounded, after one false start, Crawford was ready. He pulled away from training partner and 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin and U.S. teammate Bernard Williams in the final 50 meters to win in a sizzling 19.79 seconds, eighth-fastest in history.

Many had predicted that Gatlin, 22, would add the 200 gold to the one in the 100 on Sunday night, but on this day, in this race, he was no match for Crawford, 26. Williams finished second in 20.01, with Gatlin just behind in 20.03, adding another American sweep to the one Monday in the 400.

``Justin was the best man on the day, last Sunday,'' said Crawford. ``Whether he won with a 10.3 or 9.8, he won the gold medal and I was happy for him.

``But this was my day. It was an accomplishment for me, as well as the whole American team.''

The three Americans got on their knees, circled arms, and huddled in prayer moments after it was over. They soon found American flags and jogged a victory lap that most of the crowd - now resigned to the fact that Kederis wasn't going to win it - now applauded.

This was a departure from the pre-race introductions, when the crowd booed all three Americans, as if they'd been part of a plot to keep Kederis from competing.

It had been 20 years since the United States last went 1-2-3 in an Olympic 200 final, with Carl Lewis, Kirk Baptiste and Thomas T. Jefferson pulling it off at the boycotted Los Angeles Games in 1984.

``After the 100, I put that away and had to refocus,'' said Crawford, a three-time NCAA champion out of Clemson who trains with Gatlin in Raleigh, N.C.

``Things happen. I've won races, I've lost races. You've got to understand that I wasn't unhappy at all after the 100. I wasn't worried at all. I knew I could handle it.''

The best of the rest of the world seemed to be running in a whole different race. Veteran Frankie Fredericks of Namibia and Portugal's Francis Obikwelu went 4-5, both credited with 20.14.

Next up for the sprinters is Friday's qualifying for the 4x100 relay. The U.S. men have had a spotty record in the 4x100 over the years - losing to Canada in 1996 and blowing a baton exchange in the first round of the 1988 Seoul Games.