SPORTS
Kareen places sixth in Osaka showdown
Kareem Street-Thompson
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
Kareem Street-Thompson finished sixth in a time of 10.28 sec, in the
100-metre final in Osaka, Japan.
Olympic Champion Maurice Greene, still the class act of men’s 100-metre
sprint in 2004 at age 29, ran 10.04 to lead an American contingent to the podium
sweep in front of J J Johnson (10.11sec) and Mickey Grimes (10.21).
Immediately following the race, Kareem commented: “I felt pretty good warming
up and knew Osaka could be an opportunity to show my speed.
The only downside for me was being placed in the outside lane nine, as I was a
late entry to the field. The outside lanes, one and nine, are a tough place to
gauge your race. If Kim Collins can win a gold medal in the 100 metres at the
Paris World Championships in lane one, then there is no excuse for me.
“I passed Terrance Trammell in lane eight at the 30-metre mark, but as he was
not a factor, I should have been less concerned about him and more concerned
about running my own race.
“I couldn’t see or feel any of the others until we crossed the line, but at
the finish it was clear that I had let a golden opportunity slip away.
“If I am going to be a serious threat for Athens, I need to be challenging
Maurice and establishing a time around 10.00sec, not coasting home in 10.28!
This is not the way I wanted to finish my Japanese swing.”
With his Japan tour over, Kareem leaves with an Olympic A qualifying time in
the 100-metre event and a 2004 World Top Ten time of 10.17 sec.
He had a chance to establish himself as one of the top five sprinters in 2004
and will compete in both the long jump and the 100 metres in Athens.
He will now return to his training with Coach Dan Pfaff, and for the next two
weeks prepare for the 22 May meet in Mexico City where he will focus solely on
the long jump.
After Mexico, he will regroup and prepare for the European season in June.
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