Greene’s Fall Is a Downer for Scott

The public drama at the U.S. track and field championships was exhilarating.

Three U.S. women broke 50 seconds in the same 400-meter race for the first time Saturday, Jeremy Wariner recovered from an early stumble to run a world-leading 44.20 seconds and add the 400 title to his Olympic gold medal, and Me’Lisa Barber continued her surprising progress by winning the women’s 100, an event she skipped the last three years.

The private drama was poignant, born of misfortune. At the center sat Leonard Scott, sobbing unreservedly in the cool-down area after he’d finished third in the men’s 100 and won a berth at the world championships but his mentor and friend, Maurice Greene, pulled up lame and couldn’t finish.

Scott, who trains with Greene with the Los Angeles-based HSI group, felt worse than if his own hamstring had given out.

“It hurts so, so bad,” said Scott, who left track in 2003 for a failed try at the NFL. “To turn around and see somebody I look up to go down, it really hurts because I know what we planned.”

They’d planned to go 1-2 and might have done it if Greene’s left hamstring hadn’t “popped” after about 60 meters, stunning the crowd of 10,194 at the Home Depot Center. Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, given a reprieve Friday with a reversal of his opening-round false-start disqualification, survived a false start Saturday and closed with a burst to pass Scott and win in 10.08 seconds, into a stiff headwind of 2.3 meters per second.

Shawn Crawford, the Olympic 200 gold medalist, was second in 10.17, and Scott third in 10.18. Gatlin and Crawford later ran in the preliminary round of the 200 and advanced to today’s semifinal.

“Maurice was right next to me and when he pulled up, he smacked me in the face with his hand,” Gatlin said. “I had to keep running my race....I feel lucky.”

Greene, a three-time 100 world champion who won gold at the Sydney Olympics and bronze at the Athens Games, also sobbed after he left the track. Greene, who will be 31 next month, had envisioned running side by side with Scott at Helsinki, Finland, in August.

“I knew I was in a good position. I felt Leonard out there,” Greene said. “I felt like I could have won it, but they ran a great race. I could deal with injuries, but I wanted to go and get my world championship title back.”

Said Scott: “He’s so confident, he could walk through fire and tell you he’s not going to get burned. He’s giving me confidence. The sky’s the limit for me.”

Sanya Richards, Dee Dee Trotter and recent UCLA graduate Monique Henderson pushed the limits in the women’s 400, creating a historical moment.

Richards’ world-leading 49.28 matched the third-best time by a U.S. woman, after Valerie Brisco’s 48.84 and Chandra Cheesebrough’s 49.05 and 49.28, all in 1984. Trotter was second in 49.88 and Henderson, the NCAA champion, cut her personal record to 49.96 although she couldn’t hold the lead she held at 200 meters.

Richards, Trotter and Henderson won gold medals on the U.S. 1,600 relay team at Athens last summer as collegians, so they know each other well.

“It feels like it’s going to be the three of us for a number of years,” said Henderson, who will make her world championships debut. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been for a third-place performance.”

Wariner faltered out of the blocks but ran the curves well and edged former Baylor teammate Darold Williamson (44.62) and an onrushing Andrew Rock (44.70).

“Jeremy wins the important ones,” said Williamson, who took the baton from Wariner on the Athens 1,600 relay and anchored a gold-medal effort. “I’ve beat him all year but today he put his race together and executed.”

Wariner said he wasn’t worried after the stumble. “I set myself up to work the curve and have a good kick at the end,” he said.

Barber has put up stunning numbers. She cut her personal best in the 100 from 11.40 to 11.05 two weeks ago and ran a wind-aided 10.78 in the semifinals Saturday before winning the final in 11.10. Muna Lee was second in 11.28 and Lauryn Williams was third in 11.29. Barber’s success is especially remarkable since she hadn’t run the 100 or 200 from 2002 until this year and focused on the 400.

She also became a student of Trevor Graham, who coached Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year Montgomery told a grand jury that Graham had provided him steroids, which Graham denied. Graham launched the BALCO investigation by providing anti-doping authorities with a syringe that contained the designer steroid THG.

Barber attributed her improvement to weight training and Graham’s tough workouts.

“He’s a great coach despite all the negative criticism he has gotten,” said Barber, who ran a 22.67 in her 200 preliminary and advanced to today’s semifinal. “I’m a lot stronger. My technique and form are a lot better.”

Allyson Felix of Los Angeles advanced to the 200 semifinals, with a time of 23.18.

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Final day

Highlighted events taking place today in the U.S. track and field championships at the Home Depot Center:

* 1:30 p.m.: women’s triple jump

* 1:40 p.m.: men’s high jump

* 3:07 p.m.: women’s 800 meters

* 3:17 p.m.: men’s 800 meters

* 3:35 p.m.: women’s 200 meters

* 3:45 p.m.: men’s 200 meters