Marion Jones wins three golds and two bronzes at Olympics
Jones helped the U.S. women win the 4 x 400-meter relay, running the breakaway third leg, and also anchored the 4 x 100 team to the bronze medal. Her Herculean efforts on a somewhat slow track moved her individual medal count to five, best-ever by an American track athlete for one Olympic Games.
It wasn't five golds, as she had hoped, but no track athlete of either gender has matched those numbers since 1924, when Finland's Paavo Nurmi won five golds.
The three golds and two bronzes for Jones also put her into a special category. She becomes the fourth American woman to win five medals in one Olympics, joining gymnast Shannon Miller in 1992 at Barcelona, Spain; swimmer Shirley Babashoff in 1976 at Montreal and swimmer Dara Torres at these Games.
Johnson, running his final Olympic race, helped the Orlando-born Harrison twins make history.
Johnson anchored the men's 4 x 400 team to a 2-minute, 56.35-second clocking and the gold medal. Alvin and Calvin Harrison became the United States' first twin brothers to win Olympic golds in track and field. "I love the way that sounds -- twins win Olympic gold," Calvin said. "Maybe we should get a T-shirt made."
Antonio Pettigrew completed the golden quartet. Angelo Taylor, the 400 hurdles gold-medal winner, and Jerome Young also earned golds for running in the first round.
Johnson had said all along this would be his final Olympics. "There is nothing to be gained from continuing. The risk is greater than the reward," he said.
"I came in winning gold, and I will leave winning gold. It was important to me to keep my record of no bronze and no silver."
Green anchored the 4 x 100 relay team but said he had little to do with the victory.
"We had six guys out there. We got it together, and we got the job done," he said. "I really didn't do much. Bernard, Brian and J.D. did it all. I was just bringing home the gold."
Former University of Florida sprinter Bernard Williams, who quit school after the Olympic trials to sign with agent Emanuel Hudson, came away with a gold medal as part of the winning foursome, along with Jon Drummond and Brian Lewis. The United States won in 37.61.
Also earning gold medals for their work in the preliminary rounds were Tim Montgomery and Winter Haven's Ken Brokenburr.
The best way to describe Jones' performance in the 4 x 400 was provided by Gainesville's Jearl Miles-Clark, who ran the leadoff leg. "I'm just happy she was on my team," Miles-Clark said. "That was one of the smoothest 400 legs I've sever seen."
Jamaica and the Russian Federation chased the United States (3:22.62) home, mindful of the fact that Australia's Cathy Freeman was coming from far back.
via: orlandosentinel
