American trio shuts out Fredericks

ATHENS, Greece — In an emotional night and under bizarre circumstances, Namibia's Frank Fredericks bid adieu to a remarkable but star-crossed Olympic sprinting career Thursday night in Olympic Stadium. The 36-year-old runner who graduated from BYU in 1991 — where his sprint records still stand — finished fourth in the 200 meter final behind a trio of Americans.

As always, Fredericks, one of the greatest sprinters of all-time, came one place away from his dream.

At the 1992 and 1996 Olympics, when he was in his prime, he finished second four times in the 100 and 200.

At these Olympics, his stated goal was to "go out with a medal." At his advanced sprinting age, he would settle for bronze.

But Shawn Crawford, Bernard Williams and Justin Gatlin, all of the U.S., finished in front of Fredericks, who outleaned Francis Obikwelu of Portugal, the silver medalist in the 100, for fourth place.

Crawford's time was 19.79, with Williams at 20.01; Gatlin at 20.03; and Fredericks and Obikwelu both at 20.14.

Fredericks' fastest-ever 200 was in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 when he ran 19.68 behind Michael Johnson's legendary world-record run of 19.32.

The start of the 200 was delayed six minutes because the pro-Greek crowd in the stadium, which was nearly filled to its 70,000 capacity, would not quiet down. Greece's Kostas Kenteris won the 200 four years ago at the Sydney Games and was the expected favorite here in his homeland until he withdrew from the competition due to complications with drug-testing.

Unsubstantiated stories have circulated in the Greek media since Kenteris' withdrawal the first week of the Games that officials in U.S. athletics were responsible for pushing for Kenteris' drug-testing. Thousands of Greek fans chanted Kenteris' name and booed when the three Americans entered in the 200 were shown on the video screen. In the first attempt to start the race, Fredericks raised his arm to the officials, indicating he couldn't hear. He then put his finger to his lips, while his image was on the video screen, and asked for quiet.

A second false start resulted when Stephane Buckland of Mauritius jumped the gun.

Fredericks said he had never seen anything like it in his long track career. "The first in my life," he said.

He spoke only briefly with the media after the race, fighting back tears. "It is quite emotional," he said. "I always wanted to go out with a medal, but sometimes in life you don't get everything you want."

Earlier in the day, Fredericks felt the respect of his peers when he was the leading vote-getter in balloting for four openings on the IOC Athletes Commission. A total of 5,787 athletes, about 55 percent of those competing in Athens, voted, and Fredericks was the leader with 1,849 votes.

Others who will be IOC members for the next eight years include Jan Zelezny of the Caech Republic, Hicham El Guerouj of Morocco and Rania Elwani of Egypt. The four will be introduced at the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

Fredericks said he did not run his last race. He will continue to compete through this season, he said. He will turn 37 on Oct. 2.

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E-mail: lbenson@desnews.com