LAUSANNE, Switzerland, 27 June 2003 — World record holder Tim Montgomery and archrival Maurice Greene clash for the first time this year at the Athletissima meeting here on July 1.
Organizer Jacky Delapierre said he had also captured new US champion Bernard Williams for an all-star lineup.
Williams upstaged Montgomery at the US world championship trials in California last week. Greene did not race in Palo Alto as he was already qualified for the August world championships in Paris because he is the defending champion.
Montgomery wiped out Greene’s 100 meters world record with a run of 9.78 seconds in the IAAF Grand Prix final in Paris last September.
That was one 100th of a second faster than the 1999 record by Greene, who watched his fellow American from the stands.
Paris organizers, who had been hoping to line up Montgomery and Greene for their July 4 meeting, claimed Montgomery wanted 60,000 dollars but Delapierre said he had not paid that amount.
Delapierre said he argued that he had helped out the US runner before he won major titles and had stuck by an initial low offer that had been rejected by Montgomery’s manager. The athlete’s team had come back to him after the US championships to negotiate. Montgomery told the French sports daily l’Equipe he hoped to name his new coach this week. Montgomery was ordered off Charlie Francis, the former coach to disgraced 1988 Olympic champion Ben Johnson, in February. Montgomery had dropped Trevor Graham to link with Francis.
He said Greene’s coach John Smith, Dan Pfaff and Tom Tellez, former coach to Carl Lewis, were on his list.
However, Pfaff, the University of Texas coach, said he was reluctant to give up his college job to coach Montgomery full-time and Tellez, 69, planned to retire.
Pittman Emerges as Possible
Olympic Champion
In London, as Olympic 400 meters champion Cathy Freeman struggles for form and motivation, another Australian has emerged as a possible one-lap gold medalist in Athens next year.
Jana Pittman, who ended Freeman’s five-year unbeaten run in March, makes her first European appearance this season at the Bislett Games Golden League meeting on Friday in the 400 metres hurdles.
The Commonwealth champion is the world number one this year, clocking a personal best of 53.76 seconds in Canberra in February. She signaled her intentions in March when she set a personal best of 50.43 seconds to defeat Freeman over the 400 flat in Sydney.
After speculation that she planned to quit running, Freeman issued a statement last week saying she would take part in the Paris world championships in August but would run in the 4x400 relay only.
