Harrison Second, But Still A Winner

Unpublished correction: The headline is incorrect. Harrison finished fourth instead of second.

Alvin Harrison was a pretty darn good 400-meter runner Monday night. And, more importantly, he was a refreshing embodiment of the Olympic spirit.

Michael Johnson got the gold medal and the Olympic record, as expected. Harrison finished fourth, missing a bronze medal by 0.09 seconds, but disappointment or frustration was the farthest thing from his mind.

When you were living out of the backseat of a car not that long ago, finishing fourth in an Olympic finals with the world watching is perhaps more of an accomplishment than what Johnson did.

“What’s great for me,” Harrison said, “is I didn’t have to get a medal to feel like a winner today. I tried my best, that’s all I can do.

“This is my first Olympics and it shows I can compete with the rest of the world. To come back from being off two years and train as short a time as I did, to me this is great.”