Maurice Greene (born July 23, 1974) is an American former

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

sprinter who competed in the 60 meters,

100 meters The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contest ...

, and

200 meters The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

. He is a former 100 m world record holder with a time of 9.79 seconds. During the height of his career (1997–2004) he won four Olympic medals and was a five-time

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. This included three golds at the 1999 World Championships, a feat which had previously only been achieved by

Carl Lewis Frederick Carlton Lewis (born July 1, 1961) is an American former track and field athlete who won nine Olympic gold medals, one Olympic silver medal, and 10 World Championships medals, including eight gold. His career spanned from 1979 to 19 ...

and Michael Johnson and has since been equaled by three others. His career was affected by a number of injuries from 2001 onwards, although he won the 100 meters bronze and silver in the sprint relay at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Greene was also successful indoors: he was the 1999 Indoor World Champion, was the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book '' Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizati ...

holder in the

60-meter dash 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior athl ...

for nearly 20 years and remains the joint-fastest man over 50 meters. He raced sparingly after an injury in 2005 and officially retired in 2008. Over his career, he made the third most sub-10-second runs (52) in the 100m, tied with

Usain Bolt Usain St. Leo Bolt, , (; born 21 August 1986) is a retired Jamaican sprinter, widely considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. He is the world record holder in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay. An eight-ti ...

and only surpassed by

Asafa Powell Asafa Powell, CD (born 23 November 1982) is a retired Jamaican sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. He set the 100 metres world record twice, between June 2005 and May 2008 with times of 9.77 and 9.74 seconds. Powell has consisten ...

and Justin Gatlin. Following his track career he has become an ambassador for the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

and a TV personality, appearing on '' Identity'', ''

Blind Date A blind date is a social engagement between two people who have not met, usually arranged by a mutual acquaintance. Structure A blind date is arranged for by a mutual acquaintance of both participants. The two people who take part in the blind ...

'', and ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series ''Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

''. Most recently he volunteered as a track coach at

University of California at Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

(

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

) for the 2012–2013 season.

Early life

Greene was born in

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

and attended

F.L. Schlagle High School F. L. Schlagle High School is a fully accredited, public high school located in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. It serves students in grades 9 to 12 and is operated by the Kansas City USD 500 school district. The principal is Yolanda Tho ...

. In his youth and high school, he participated in both

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

and track and field. After high school, Greene received a Track scholarship to the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

. Greene also attended Park University and

Kansas City Kansas Community College Kansas City Kansas Community College (KCKCC) is a public two year community college in Wyandotte County, Kansas, United States. The college is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, a commission of the North Central Association and the K ...

Sports career

Early career and breakthrough

In 1995 he took part in his first major international tournament at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Gothenburg, but was eliminated in the 100 m quarter-finals. His next season was disappointing, as he failed to make the American team for the 1996 Summer Olympics in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

. After watching the Olympic final from the stands, Greene made his way to Los Angeles to seek the coaching of

John Smith John Smith is a common personal name. It is also commonly used as a placeholder name and pseudonym, and is sometimes used in the United States and the United Kingdom as a term for an average person. It may refer to: People :''In chronological ...

. He joined the start up

HSI HSI may refer to: Science and technology * Hardware Security Integration * HSI color space, used in computer vision applications * Heterosubtypic immunity * High Speed Interconnect, a Nvidia computer chip * Horizontal shaft impactor, a type of rock ...

group. He went on to become the group's most visible member. The following season would be his breakthrough. At the World Championships in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

, Greene won the 100 m title. This marked the beginning of Greene's dominance in the 100 m. He successfully defended his title in 1999 and 2001 and captured the Olympic gold medal in the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug language, Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport ...

. He was also successful at the 200 m. At the 1999 World Championships, he also won the 200 m title, the first to win both sprint events at a World Championships. However, he did not run the 200 m at the 2000 Olympics after an injury at the US trials.

World record holder and athletic prime

In 1999 he set the 100 m world record at 9.79 s (+0.1 m/s wind), beating Donovan Bailey's standing world record of 9.84 s (+0.7 m/s wind), and lowering the world record by the largest margin since the advent of electronic timing. Greene also matched Bailey's 50 m indoor world record time, but the run was never ratified. He also set the 60 m indoor world record twice. His 60 m indoor record is currently at 6.39 seconds. In addition, Maurice Greene was the only sprinter to hold the 60 m and 100 m world records at the same time. The previous

logo was created in Greene's image. In 2002, Greene lost his 100 m world record to fellow American

Tim Montgomery Timothy Montgomery (born January 28, 1975) is an American former track sprinter who specialized in the 100-meter dash. In 2005, he was stripped of his records—including a now-void men's 100-meter world record of 9.78 seconds set in 2002—a ...

, who beat his time by 0.01 (9.78 s +2.0 m/s), while Greene himself was injured and watched the race from the stands; Montgomery has since been found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs, and his record has been retroactively rescinded. The record was broken legitimately by

in 2005 with a time of 9.77 s (+1.6 m/s wind). At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greene added to his medal tally with the bronze after finishing third in his attempt to defend his 100 m title to Justin Gatlin, and a silver as the anchor leg runner on the United States 4 × 100 m relay team, narrowly denied another Olympic Gold by the British team, who won by 0.01 seconds. Greene ran 52 sub-10-second 100 m races during his career, which at the time was more than any other sprinter in history. This record has now been surpassed by

who has 97 100 m sub-10-second runs to his name and Justin Gatlin who has 64 100 m sub-10-second runs to his name and equalled by

who has the same amount of sub-10-second runs with 52. Previously Greene had held the record for the most wind-legal sub-10-second clockings for 100 m in one season, when he ran 9 sub-10s in 1999. This record was also broken by Asafa Powell in 2006 (12), and it was improved by Powell in 2008 to 15. On December 21, 2006, he appeared as one of the "strangers" on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

game show '' Identity''. The contestant, a self-professed track and field fan, incorrectly identified him by name as

Marion Jones Marion Lois Jones (born October 12, 1975), also known as Marion Jones-Thompson, is an American former world champion track and field athlete and former professional basketball player. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 ...

, although she identified him as the "world's fastest man."

Post-running

On February 4, 2008, Greene announced his retirement from track and field in Beijing, citing nagging injuries and a wish to see new individuals succeed in the sport. Greene said he hopes to pursue coaching and business interests. In April 2008, the New York Times reported that Greene had paid Mexican discus thrower Angel Guillermo Heredia $10,000, which Heredia claimed was in payment for performance-enhancing drugs. Greene admitted meeting Heredia and making the payment, but claimed it was common for him to pay for "stuff" for other members of his training group, and reiterated that he had never used banned drugs. Greene was a contestant on Season 7 of ''

'', and was paired with two-time champion

Cheryl Burke Cheryl Burke (born May 3, 1984) is an American dancer, model, and television host. She is best known for being a professional dancer on ABC's ''Dancing with the Stars''. She was the first female professional to win the show and the first prof ...

. He was eliminated on Week 8 of the competition, taking 5th place. He hyperextended his leg during the competition. He later helped out in their pro-dancer competition and danced a Tango with future winner Anna Demidova. Greene also appeared on the American television series ''

'' where he was paired with a woman named Christie. Greene and Christie agreed that they would see each other again. He has a tattoo that reads GOAT referring to his claim to be "Greatest of All Time".

Media

In an event set up by ESPN's

Todd Gallagher Todd Gallagher is an American comedy writer, performance artist, and director. He has worked with ESPN and is known for his book, ''Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan: Taking the Field with Pro Athletes and Olympic Legends to Answer Sports' ...

, Greene appeared in the book "Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan" racing in a 100-meter race against the book's editor, who had a 31-meter head start and the help of a moving sidewalk. Greene lost by a nose. Maurice Greene hosted the monthly show "Greene Light" on Eurosport where he met stars of athletics, such as Blanka Vlašić,

Allyson Felix Allyson Michelle Felix (born November 18, 1985) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters. She specialized in the 200 meters from 2003 to 2013, then gradually shifted to the 400 me ...

and Churandy Martina. Greene was also the cover athlete for the multi-platform video game International Track & Field 2000, which was developed by

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casi ...

Personal bests

International competitions

National competitions

Meeting wins

; IAAF Golden League *

Golden Gala Golden Gala is an annual track and field event normally held at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. Following the 2013 death of Italian sprinting legend Pi ...

100 m: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 *

200 m: 2000 * Meeting de Paris 100 m: 2001, 2002 * Meeting de Paris 200 m: 1999 * Internationales Stadionfest 100 m: 1998, 2000 * Internationales Stadionfest 200 m: 1999 *

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now the final event of the Diamond ...

100 m: 1998, 2000 * Weltklasse Zürich 100 m: 1999, 2000 ;Other * Athens Grand Prix Tsiklitiria 100 m: 1999 * Osaka Grand Prix 100 m: 2000 * New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 60 m: 1999

Dancing with the Stars

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Greene, Maurice 1974 births Living people People from Granada Hills, Los Angeles Sportspeople from Kansas City, Kansas Track and field athletes from Kansas Track and field athletes from California American male sprinters African-American male track and field athletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic gold medalists for the United States in track and field Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Athletics Indoor Championships winners World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for the United States Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Participants in American reality television series IAAF Golden League winners BBC Sports Personality World Sport Star of the Year winners USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople