TRACK NOTES

SACRAMENTO – Ato Boldon has loved the battle between Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene. Loved it in a way no one else participating or attending these U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials could. Loved it in a way that a playoff team wants to see its next opponent get taken to seven grueling games in the previous series.

“I like Sacramento, but that is not why I am smiling so much,” Boldon said.

The reason is that Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago stands along with Frankie Fredericks of Namibia as the greatest non-American challengers to Johnson and Greene at the Olympics in two months.

“This is very good for me,” Boldon said of the grueling war of words and legs between Johnson and Greene. “You have two guys who can stop me from winning the gold in Sydney taxing each other here. As a competitor, I could not be in a better position than watching them try to kill each other.”

Boldon, who grew up and went to Jamaica H.S. in Queens, is the defending bronze medalist at both 100 and 200 meters. He also trains daily with his pal Greene, including working out with him here at these Trials.

Boldon also has an interesting take on the nastiness between Greene and Johnson. He thinks it is more put-on, than put-down. He says if the two were in different events they would be chums and he says that in the past they have been much more friendly than they have let on in Sacramento. However, Boldon did acknowledge that the way the trash talking got personal this week has created a real rift that he says cannot be repaired until Johnson retires.

It was a moment hidden from many because it happened so late Friday night. But Kip Janvrin used an incredible show of sportsmanship from fellow competitor Trafton Rodgers to make the U.S. Team in the decathlon.