BRITISH SPRINTERS PICKING UP THE PACE
Darren Campbell: silver bonus
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IF BRITISH 100 and 200m men needed any more confirmation that they were ready to challenge the Americans as the world's leading sprinters, it was in their hapless disqualification from the 4x100 relay heats on Friday, making the sort of mistakes which have a long and dishonorable tradition among US quartets.
Nevertheless, there was ample evidence that individually the British are ready to take on the world. Two men, Dwain Chambers and Darren Campbell, finished fourth and sixth in the Olympic 100m final, and Campbell was second and Christian Malcolm fifth in the 200m.
Only Maurice Greene's 100m gold separated the "old" men from the coming boys.
Campbell self-evidently was the success here, and with his silver medal, deservedly so. After winning the European 100m in title in 1998, his lack of top form last year was driven home by the emergence of Chambers and Jason Gardener as sub-10 second sprinters. Campbell was both disbelieving and disappointed by his 200m silver.
He knew who Konstantinos Kenteris, the winner was, even if most of us didn't. But he could hardly have believed that the Greek he beat into sixth place eight years ago when he got world junior silver behind Ato Boldon would emerge from obscurity to win an Olympic title. "The medal's a surprise and a bonus," said Campbell. "I wanted to get to two finals here, and be known as one of the top sprinters in the world. I was disappointed in the 100m, because that is
my main event.
"But after the second round of the 200, I thought that I could win. I'm shocked."
Dwain Chambers was distraught after his fourth in the short sprint.
After his bronze medal in the world championships in Seville last year, he had every justification for believing that he could do equally well if not better. He suffered with cramps after the heats and semis, and despite hisbest efforts couldn't quite grasp the bronze.
Chambers, however, and Campbell seem to be the modern models of the successful championships sprinters, who need to have speed as well as strength to see them through successive rounds.
Christian Malcolm's lithe frame - in contrast to the Greenes, Chambers and Campbells lining up alongside of him - seems a throwback to the days of the whippet sprinter, which had seemed long past.
Nevertheless, Malcolm finished fifth on the biggest stage of his life, and can only improve, and prove us all wrong. He is, after all the double world junior champion, and judging by his predecessors in that championship - Boldon, Kenteris, Campbell - most of whom did not win, there is a great future for him. Gardener had a poor year by his elevated standards, due mostly to an injury incurred after he became the first Briton to beat Maurice Greene earlier in the season. His sub-10
last year, and a place in the world championship final were not flukes, and he, like Campbell last year, willsurely return.
Marlon Devonish, who reached the second round of the 200m, and Julian Golding, who had the sort of year, only worse that Campbell had last year, and didn't even make it to Sydney, are sprinters who would walz into any other country's Olympic squad except that of the USA. Their presence is a constant reminder to those who were in Sydney that their places are not assured, and they have to continue improving.
Finally, a young man about whom it is difficult to write too much in extolling his current virtues, and his undoubtedly rosy future - Mark Lewis-Francis.
Incidentally, his club colleague, Denise Lewis was, surprisingly, given the long history of excellence, the first athlete from Birmingham's Birchfield Harriers to win an Olympic gold last week. As far as Lewis-Francis is concerned, maybe she just got there in time.
Lewis-Francis is, with the rest of the British squad, in finalpreparations for the world junior championships in Santiago de Chile, beginning in two weeks' time.
He decided to forego his place in the 100m team in Sydney in order to concentrate on Santiago. And his decision is likely to be rewarded with the same double that Malcolm lifted two years ago, the 100m and 200m titles.
Collectively, this is the most exciting sprint squad that Britain has ever had. Certainly, there have been British 100m Olympic champions in the past, Harold Abrahams, Allan Wells, Linford Christie.
They didn't operate in a vacuum, but they were much better than their contemporaries. These men are pushing one another to the top, and their reward can only be the prospect of more major medals, beginning with the IAAF World Championships, in Edmonton next year.
PAT BUTCHER
Sunday Times
