Kelli White waited for Jon Drummond's temper tantrum to end in the World
Championships, then added her name to the list of great American female
sprinters with a triumph in the 100 meters.
White, who also will run the 200, won in 10.85 seconds, a personal best, but
her triumph Sunday night at Stade de France was overshadowed by Drummond's
tirade after he was disqualified for a false start in the second round of the
men's 100.
Also lost in the chaos was Kenenisa Bekele's victory over Haile Gebrselassie
in the 10,000, a symbolic passing of the torch from one Ethiopian to another.
The men's 100 features world record holder Tim Montgomery and defending
champion Maurice Greene, who both advanced to the semifinals. But the attention
was grabbed by the highly emotional, and usually an also-ran, Drummond.
When called for a false start and disqualified, he refused to leave the
track, shaking his head from side to side, repeating, "I did not move, I did not
move." He lay on his back in his lane, arms folded in defiance as a blue-shirted
meet official held the red foul card over him.
The scene descended into chaos. Meet officials huddled on the infield. The
other sprinters in the heat walked about impatiently. IAAF head Lamine Diack,
IOC chief Jacques Rogge and former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch watched
from the stands.
Drummond lay there for some five minutes before finally getting up. He began
to walk off, to the cheers of the crowd. He blew them kisses, then someone
approached him and said something and he raced back to the starting line
shouting, "I'm protesting this race."
They lined up again as Drummond demanded to run the race in protest. Asafa
Powell of Jamaica, also called for a false start and disqualified came back out,
too. IAAF officials said no way, though, and the disqualifications stood.
The incident was the result of a new IAAF rule on false starts. Only two are
allowed in any race, with the athlete who committed the second one disqualified,
no matter who did the first.
After he finally left the stadium, Drummond sobbed uncontrollably on the
warmup track, then hugged his coach John Smith. Eventually, he released a
statement, after it was explained that the computer that monitors the false
start based on foot pressure had indeed called it a foul.
"I flinched, the guy next to me flinched, and another guy flinched," Drummond
said. "I didn't understand the rule to mean that a flinch is a false start. I
protested because this is my livelihood. At this point in my career, for me to
lose an opportunity to pursue a dream, it crushes me. I walked away from what I
had worked for the whole year."
USA Track and Field apologized.
"The U.S. delegation regrets the delay in Sunday's men's 100-meter
quarterfinal competition," the federation said in a statement. "It was an
unprecedented circumstance that was challenging to everyone."
The federation much preferred that the attention focus on women's 100, where
White and teammate Torri Edwards finished 1-2. Edwards was clocked in 10.93
Defending champion Zhanna Block of the Ukraine was third in 10.99. The women's
race was delayed by 30 minutes while the Drummond diatribe unfolded.
"The delay was a little bit much for us," White said. "We warm up for a
certain time and when we get delayed a half an hour it's a little bit
nerve-racking. But it turned out well, anyway."
White was sixth out of the blocks.
"My start was as awful as usual," she said. "I usually don't panic when I
do get out bad. I just due what I'm taught and using the strength that we built
up this year, I was able to push through."
But the next 90 meters were all White's. Her celebration was subdued. She
moves on to the 200, where she hopes to become the first U.S. woman to win both
sprints in a world championship. She politely answered questions about the
absence of Marion Jones (news - web sites), who watched from the sidelines as a
television analyst after taking the season off for the birth of her son.
White knows she has a ways to go to match Jones' spectacular career.
"I have years to go and a lot more growing and learning to do to be where she
is," White said. "I have to look at her as a mentor and someone else that I can
look up to."
The great Gabreselassie showed no sign of disappointment. It was more like
pride for his young countryman.
"He will be an Olympic champion and world record holder, you can believe me,"
Gebrselassie said. "He's already an outstanding athlete."
Bekele won the race in 26:49.57, the 10th-fastest time in history, to lead an
Ethiopian sweep. Gebrselassie was second in 26:50.77 and Sileshi Sihine third in
27:01.44. The Kenyans were shut out in the race for the first time in 20 years.
