DYNAMIC DUEL

By MIKE PENNER

July 20, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO — Behind the trash-talking and the trash-typing that have spoken volumes--column inches too--about them, the base difference between the two fastest men at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials is this:

Maurice Greene wants Michael Johnson.

Michael Johnson wants Maurice Greene to shut up.

From the personal motivation standpoint, it’s as simple as that.

Greene, having conquered the world of 100-meter sprinting, has now set his sights on the 200-meter mantle. He won the 200 final at last year’s world championships, but it was something of a hollow triumph: Johnson, the king of the event, wasn’t entered in the race and Greene’s winning time, 19.90 seconds, was more than a half-second slower than Johnson’s world record, 19.32.

So from Greene’s perspective, he still needs that race against Johnson--coming, most likely, in Sunday’s 200-meter final at Hornet Stadium--to validate himself in the event.

From Johnson’s perspective, why bother?

Johnson, ever imperious on his throne, had refused to grant Greene an audience on the track for more than two years. Greene has accused Johnson of ducking him; Johnson has suggested that any 200-meter race against Greene would be an extravagant waste of 20 seconds of his valuable time.

A few proclamations from the monarch:

“What motivation do I have to beat up on a 19.9 runner?”

And: “Since Carl Lewis left the sport, there is not an athlete I get excited about running against. There are no personalities I get excited running against. I was excited running against Carl because I wanted to be No. 1 in the sport. I’m there now, so I don’t have to get excited.”

And: “I don’t get as excited [about a Johnson-Greene matchup] as the fans do because I know more than the fans do. I know Maurice has never beaten Ato Boldon [at 200 meters] . . . I can’t look at it like the fans look at it based on Maurice Greene being the world-record holder in the 100 and on pure speculation he might be the guy that can beat Michael Johnson.

“That’s what the fans are looking at and that’s great. You know that Ato Boldon couldn’t do it, you know that Frankie Fredericks couldn’t do it, so let’s put our hopes on Maurice because we all want to see a great race. But in terms of pure facts, Ato Boldon will be a force to reckon with. He’s shown himself to do that. He’s run 19.8. Frankie is the silver medalist in the last two Olympics, he’s run 19.6. That’s how I’ve got to look at it.

“So I don’t see any excitement about running against Maurice Greene. Or anybody else for that matter. Because I’ve done everything.”

Ignore and conquer--that is the preferred operating procedure for Johnson. It is an attitude that permeates everything Johnson does in competition: the 200 and 400 are his territory--everybody else is just trespassing. It’s the track and field version of Michael Jordan’s “supporting cast,” which can be highly annoying if you happen to earn your living running the 200 and 400 meters.

“Michael Johnson and Co.” is how Boldon derisively terms the Johnson world view.

Seeking a counterattack--or at least some way to get Johnson’s attention--Greene and his handlers with the HSI track club have developed a mind-game strategy involving Greene moving his mouth nearly as fast as his feet. For months leading up to the trials, Greene has stoked and provoked--predicting victory over Johnson to anyone holding a note pad, describing himself as Kryptonite to Johnson’s Superman persona, announcing after his first 100-meter qualifying round last week that his main goal at the trials was to “get Michael Johnson.”

John Smith, Greene’s coach, has joined the offensive, downplaying Johnson’s mind-boggling 19.32-second world record at the Atlanta Olympics as essentially a one-off, the once-in-a-lifetime byproduct of a very fast track, a pro-American crowd, a warm night and Johnson being in the form of his life.

“Day in and day out, Michael is a 19.85, a 19.80 sprinter,” Smith says. “Not to belittle Michael, but if we run a 19.90, we’re in the mix. And Maurice feels he can take it up a notch.”

Bait planted and bait taken. At a Tuesday news conference, Johnson railed against Greene, calling him “immature” and the HSI dismissal of his world record as a super-sized lucky break “ridiculous.”

“I dislike a lot of the things Maurice has said about me in an attempt to elevate himself by using my name,” Johnson said. “Some things he’s said are totally untrue. I don’t like that. I think it’s unnecessary.

“He said the track was fast when I broke the world record. Please. That’s ridiculous. Then, two weeks later, he’s saying he respects me. Then he’s saying this is a prelim, and then he says he’s going to get Michael. Please.”

In an uncharacteristic move, Johnson also trashed Greene and HSI in a guest column for USA Today, in which he questioned Greene’s intelligence for racing so often before the trials and assailed HSI for resting on old laurels. The column ran Friday. Saturday, Greene and three HSI teammates--Jon Drummond, Curtis Johnson and Inger Miller--won four of the six spots on the U.S. men’s and women’s Olympic 100-meter team.

Point, counterpoint.

“The whole thing with Maurice and Michael, Maurice is having a ball with it,” Smith says with a bemused laugh. “It’s fun to him. It may irritate Michael, because Michael is used to being out there like nobody’s challenging him. This is one of the few times that somebody is challenging him, and it’s different. So he’s reacting as someone would react to being challenged.

“And it’s perfect. We love it.”

Smith describes it as “social bantering. Everyone is trying to put themselves in a position where they have an advantage. And the bottom line: It’s going to be fun. It’s great for the sport and it’s great for Michael, actually, whether he likes it or not. Everybody goes down kicking and screaming.”

Smith is asked how he would honestly assess Greene’s chances in the 200-meter final against Johnson.

“The question is: What do you think Michael’s chances are against Maurice?” Smith replies. “I tend to look at it a little differently than everybody else because it’s just a race and people have to realize that the last time Maurice and Michael ran [at the 1998 Prefontaine Classic], Maurice won.

“Last time I looked, Michael, you were a little upset because you got beat up out here. The question isn’t if he was training or not training [at the time of the race]. The bottom line is: When you step up to the line to race somebody, you should be ready to run.”

Johnson should be ready to run Sunday, just to hazard a guess.

“I don’t think winning this race is going to silence my critics or Maurice Greene,” Johnson says. “He’s going to say, once he’s beaten, ‘This was a prelim, I’m going to beat him at the Olympic Games.’ And that will be fine, that’s what he’s supposed to say.

“I’m not going to win this race to silence anybody. I’m going to win this race because I can and I’m supposed to. I don’t expect anything less of myself.”

And from Greene’s corner?

“I feel very motivated,” he says. “[Johnson] doesn’t think anybody can beat him, but if you look at our last race . . . I beat him.”

More than two years in the making, the rematch is now at hand, thankfully set for Sunday evening. It has been too long a wait. Too loud too.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s Schedule

After two days off, the U.S. Olympic track and field trials resume today at Cal State Sacramento. A schedule of events:

DAY 5

* 4 p.m.--Decathlon 100

* 4:20 p.m.--Men’s hammer qualifying

* 4:45 p.m.--Decathlon long jump

* 6 p.m.--Decathlon shotput

* 7:15 p.m.--Decathlon high jump