Ato Boy: Boldon Captures 200 Meters Gold Medal Helps Trinidad Sprinter Erase Reputation As A Bridesmaid

When he finished fifth at 100 meters last Sunday, Ato Boldon of Trinidad had to live with the world champion being a close friend and training partner, Maurice Greene.

“He was two doors down, and he got more flowers and champagne than most brides,” Boldon said.

A former national champion at UCLA who began his career at Jamaica High in Queens, N.Y., Boldon is a chatty, effervescent sort who has talked incessantly about becoming the future of sprinting. Until Friday night, when he won a world title at 200 meters in 20.04 seconds, his deeds have seldom supported his words.

Boldon won bronze medals at 100 and 200 meters at the Atlanta Olympics, finishing third while Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson respectively won with world records.

Last Saturday, Boldon ran 9.87 seconds in the 100-meter quarterfinals, then the fastest time in the world this year. A day later, he suffered leg cramps, and perhaps strained confidence, and finished fifth in 10.02 while Greene ran a personal best of 9.86 seconds to win the world title.

“After the 100, it’s like, ‘You can’t win the big one,”’ Boldon, 23, said after Friday night’s victory. “This was very important.”

The 200 time was slow, despite a tailwind, and the race suffered from anticlimax because Johnson, the world record-holder at 19.32 seconds, was not entered. Boldon did not come anywhere close to the 19.77 he ran last month, which is the fastest time in the world this year.

Still, he validated his career, winning a world title in his eighth race over the past seven days. His legs felt lifeless after so many rounds, but they finally caught up with his confidence. Frank Fredericks of Namibia finished second in 20.23 seconds, and Claudinei da Silva of Brazil took third in 20.26.

“I knew I’d have to come in here and run mostly on guts, because I had definitely run out of leg power,” Boldon said.

He was not alone in wishing for more energy from a reserve tank.

Wilson Kipketer, a Kenyan who runs for Denmark, attempted to break the world record he shares at 800 meters, passing 200 meters in 23.41 seconds and 400 meters in 49.68.

His 600-meter split was 1:16.99, but at that point Kipketer appeared bothered by a crosswind, the lack of a pace setter and fatigue from running his fourth round in five days. He won comfortably in 1:43.38, but he was well off the world record of 1:41.73 that he shares with Sebastian Coe of Britain.

Rich Kenah of Arlington, Va., tucked into Kipketer’s slipstream and, with a lean at the tape, won a bronze medal in 1:44.25, his career best. Norberto Tellez of Cuba took the silver medal in 1:44.0.

A year ago, after finishing fourth at the Olympic trials, Kenah began sending out resumes; he thought it was time to stop running and start using his business degree.

Partly on the advice of Craig Masback, a former top miler who is now executive director of USA Track and Field, Kenah decided to stick with running. He won a bronze at the world indoor championships in March and another Friday, relying on the fast start to wear down the finishing kicks of his competitors.

“We knew we were all running for the silver medal,” said Kenah, who is 27. “When Wilson went out, I knew I’d have a better shot.”

Kim Batten of Rochester, N.Y., had intended to challenge her world record of 52.61 seconds in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, but she and the Olympic champion, Deon Hemmings of Jamaica, were surprised by the fast-closing Nezha Bidouane of Morocco. Five meters behind Hemmings after the ninth of 10 hurdles, Bidouane made a fierce charge at the finish to win in 52.97 seconds, a personal best. Hemmings took the silver in 53.09 and Batten, the 1995 world champion, settled for the bronze in 53.52.

In the semifinal of the women’s 4x100-meter relay, the American team of Chryste Gaines, Marion Jones, Inger Miller and Gail Devers ran 41.52 seconds, just .15 off the world record. Yoelvis Quesada of Cuba won the men’s triple jump at 58 feet, 6-3/4 inches. Zhanna Pintussevich of Ukraine, who reacted prematurely after the 100 meters, thinking she had defeated Jones, celebrated legitimately Friday night by winning the women’s 200 in 22.32 seconds.

Boldon, too, could celebrate with Greene, who trains with him and coach John Smith in Los Angeles. At 14, Boldon moved from Trinidad to New York after his parents divorced. He was spotted playing soccer by Joe Trupiano, the Jamaica High track coach. Boldon credits his searing starts partly to a drill that Trupiano employed, having his runners lie down in the school hallways until they heard a paper clip or an eraser drop. The wait could last from seconds to minutes, Boldon said.