Michael Johnson is back with a bang

Johnson, who pulled up lame in the 200 metres at the U.S. trials, looked sharp and in control, cruising through the first 200 metres before stepping up a gear in the second half of the race to finish ahead of Britain’s Mark Richardson who clocked 44.72.

The performance of Richardson, who may be ruled out of the Games if an international athletics arbitration panel decide to ban him for a positive drug test, was impressive after a week when his case involving the controversial steroid nandrolone has been in the news again following a ban on compatriot Linford Christie.

But Johnson received the biggest cheer from the Brussels crowd as he prepares to try to become the first men’s 400 metres runner to retain the Olympic title. He said he had run cautiously in the early part of the race when he usually sets a fierce pace. "Today I had a totally different strategy because it was my first race back. The race gave me confidence to go back to my normal strategy and run the times I want to run. I felt I had the race under control all the time."

American world sprint champions Maurice Greene and Marion Jones also proved they are hitting their best form at the right time with impressive 100 metres victories. Greene cruised away from a quality field in the men’s race to win in 9.88. The time would have been the fastest in the world this year if the wind at his back had not been above the permitted limit of two metres per second — 2.1.

Compatriot Bernard Williams was second in 10.01 with Trinidad’s Ato Boldon third in 10.02. But Greene knows he still has a way to go before he can talk of perfection and plans to work on his reaction time at the gun.

"I ran a very good race and I won," he said. "But people are not going to hand me the gold medal. I have to go and run the race and get the gold."

The jackpot is paid to athletes who win their events at five out of the seven meetings. After victories in Brussels, U.S. Hurdler Gail Devers, Russian long jumper Tatyana Kotova, Norwegian javelin thrower Trine Hattestad and Morocco’s middle-distancer runner Hicham El Guerrouj are also still in the running.

Jones, who went close to a rare defeat in Zurich two weeks ago, produced an almost perfect start in the women’s 100 and romped away to finish several strides ahead in 10.83. Savatheda Fynes of the Bahamas was second in 11.08 and her compatriot Debbie Ferguson third in 11.11.

Jones is the only sprinter to have gone faster when she clocked 10.78 in London earlier this month. The time was even more impressive since the sprinters faced a headwind of 1.3 metres per second.

Kenya’s Olympic silver medallist Paul Tergat ran the fastest 10,000 metres in the world this year — 27 minutes 3.87 seconds — to the sound of beating African drums.

Brussels, which has a drum band in place to help the rhythm of the racers, has often provided a perfect stage for the distance runners and Tergat set a world record over 10,000 in the stadium three years ago. The five-time cross-country world champion needed a fast time to try to persuade the Kenyan Olympic selectors to pick him for Sydney after he ran only the 5,000 at the national trials.

Tergat produced a brave run, racing through the last nine laps on his own after the rest of the field failed to keep pace. (Reuters)

LONDON: Former Olympic champion Linford Christie had his Sydney Games personal coach’s accreditation withdrawn by UK Athletics on Friday at his own request.

Christie was banned for a minimum of two years by the International Amateur Athletic Federation on Monday after testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.

The British sprinter, who has protested his innocence on the drugs charge, said in a statement that "the difficult decision" had been taken after he had talked to his athletes. "I feel they will suffer from the media circus which is likely to surround my presence in Sydney."

Christie, 100 metres gold medallist at the 1992 Barcelona Games, said he had asked his own coach Rod Roddan to accompany the athletes during their preparations and "be my eyes and voice during this important time".

British Olympic Association chairman Craig Reedie said Christie had acted professionally and in the interests of his athletes. "It’s sad, but a good thing also," world champion Maurice Greene said after winning the 100 metres at the Brussels Golden League meetiing. He would have been drawing a lot of attention and possibly the athletes he coaches might not have been totally focused." (Reuters)