Greene continues on tear as Summer Games near

PORTLAND, Ore. — Maurice Greene proudly shows off his new tattoo, a lion whose mane is engraved with the letters G-O-A-T — as in the “greatest of all time.”

“The lion is the king of the jungle, and the track is my jungle,” said the Olympic gold-medal winning sprinter. “And that’s what I’m basically going to prove this year. That I’m the greatest of all time.”

After recovering from several injuries — including a broken leg — the former world-record holder has put together a string of fast finishes en route to Athens, where he hopes to repeat his Sydney performance.

In the 100 meters two weeks ago at the Payton Jordan U.S. Open at Stanford, Calif., Greene finished in a wind-aided 9.78 seconds.

It didn’t count for the record books because of the wind, but it’s still the second-fastest time run under any conditions.

Fellow U.S. sprinter Tim Montgomery set the world record of 9.78 in Paris in 2002, breaking Greene’s record of 9.79 set in 1999.

A week before Stanford, Greene won the Home Depot Invitational at Carson, Calif., with a speedy but wind-aided 9.86.

In April, he beat Montgomery at the Mt. SAC relays in 10.02. Montgomery came in third in 10.27.

Always the showman, Greene got plenty of TV time when he stripped off his shoes after the Carson race and a friend leapt onto the track wielding a fire extinguisher to cool off Greene’s “hot” shoes.

The stunt put Greene in the spotlight, and even stole — albeit momentarily — some of the attention on the doping scandal that has dogged the track world.

“I think it was a great thing. The crowd, the fans loved it. Our sport was being talked about. When was the last time that that happened?” he said.

“And it was something good, too, it was positive. It wasn’t something negative. Now people stop me on the street and say, ‘Your feet all right? Have your feet cooled off?’ “

This week, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency notified four athletes — Montgomery among them — that they may have committed drug violations that could bar them from the Olympics. Montgomery has denied using any performance-enhancing drugs.

Last month, when Greene was in New York for the U.S. Olympic Team Media Summit, he said he supports the anti-doping agency and its actions. “There is no room in our sport for drug cheaters whatsoever,” Greene said then.

Not too long after capturing gold in the 100 and 4x100 relay at the 2000 Sydney Games, Green won his third world title in the 100 with a time of 9.82.

Then he suffered a season-ending injury to his left quadriceps near the finish.

And in early 2002, Greene crashed his motorcycle on a Los Angeles freeway and broke his leg.

“Everything just went down hill from there,” he said.

Greene’s career foundered over the next two years as he recovered from the accident and other injuries that, at the time, he wouldn’t even acknowledge publicly.

“There was a reason why I wasn’t running the times that I should have been, because I wasn’t 100 percent healthy,” he said.

“I didn’t say anything, because I don’t make excuses for how I run.”