Crystal Palace Athletics

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Grand Prix Athletics at Crystal Palace - 23rd August 2002

The Norwich Union Grand Prix, screened live on BBC2 on Friday night, was a sensational event with a 17,000 capacity crowd. We got to the press area early to watch the youth performances and the mascot race and were surprised to find we were the only photographer around. Maybe the established press don't consider the pre-champion events worth reporting but the audience seemed to enjoy themselves. However, we were rewarded when Maurice was the first athlete to enter the stadium, checking out the vibe. He seemed restless.

Maurice declined interviews after troublesome qualifying in the heats which required four restarts but afterwards he spent quite a bit of time with the press explaining that in future there would be 'no more presents'.

European Champion Dwain Chambers (#33) claimed his fourth straight win of the season over Maurice Greene (#114) and staked his claim to be world number one. His official time was clocked at 9.98 seconds - the fastest ever legal time by a Briton on home soil - but this was after it was adjusted from the original track recording of 9.97.

Two years ago at the Crystal Palace Grand Prix it was Maurice who put in 9.97 for the fastest 100m in the UK and he still holds the world record of 9.79 seconds (16 Jun 99). Dwain was amazed with his performance which he achieved whilst nursing a cold - we can only hope that the IAAF decide to bolster the Stadium's position and grant it Golden League status later next month so that next year he will be using even better facilities.

Full Results...

Click here for full results of the Norwich Union Grand Prix 2002

100 METRES - Men - Final - Wind: 0.5 m/s

1	33	Dwain Chambers	GBR	9.98
2	275	Tim Montgomery	USA	10.05
3	114	Maurice Greene	USA	10.06
4	92	Francis Obikwelu	POR	10.15
5	89	Frank Fredericks	NAM	10.21
6	111	Shawn Crawford	USA	10.24
7	47	Mark Lewis-Francis	GBR	10.25
8	113	Jon Drummond	USA	10.27

Colin Jackson (#46) is retiring and put in his final outdoor performance - the audience was hugely appreciative. He achieved third place in the 110m hurdles. Colin is pictured here with Christian Malcolm (#48) who was in great spirits even though he only reached fourth place in the 200m. Colin was on the in-field for most of the day and was always smiling whenever we spotted him. At the close of the evening, after racing, he was visibly moved by the farewell fanfare and was a bit choked up on his radio interviews.

110 METRES HURDLES - Men - Final - Wind: -1.6 m/s

1	116	Allen Johnson	USA	13.23
2	125	Larry Wade	USA	13.26
3	46	Colin Jackson	GBR	13.37

The towering figure of Daniel Caines (#32) streaked past us in the lead of the 400m but he faded away near the finish and allowed Felix Sanchez (#15) to claim first place. Felix was in fine form and he also won the 400m Hurdles earlier in the evening.

400 METRES - Men - Final

1	15	Felix Sanchez (SB)	DOM	45.14
2	115	Alvin Harrison	USA	45.31
3	65	Ingo Schultz	GER	45.46
4	32	Daniel Caines	GBR	45.60

400 METRES HURDLES - Men - Final

1	15	Felix Sanchez	DOM	48.08
2	108	James Carter	USA	48.09
3	81	Hadi Al Somaily	KSA	48.62

David Kiptoo (#66) set the pace in the 800m and Yurij Borzakovskiy (#99) put in a respectable 1:44.78 to win the race. Okken Arnoud (#134) finished eighth.

World Record Holder Hicham El Guerrouj (#84) ran the mile in 3:50.86. We saw him quite soon after finishing and he didn't even look puffed! John Maycock (#50) finished midfield in eighth place.

Philips Idowu (#45) managed to out-jump Jonathan Edwards (#38) in the Triple Jump only to watch Walter Davis (#112) leap 17.33m on his penultimate attempt which he was unable to match. The event took longer than anticipated and forced BBC to over-run their television coverage. Philips was perhaps the last athlete to leave the in-field and only appeared in the press area after all the other photographers had left. Choice FM interviewed Herne Hill Harriers star Jade Johnson (#222) who took third place in the Women's Long Jump.

The Women's 100m courted great interest. Marion Jones (#120) and Zhanna Pintusevich-Block (#268) were set for a showdown. Ever since Zhanna interrupted Marion's reign of 42 consecutive wins at last year's World Championships in Edmonton there has been a tense atmosphere... calls for a Golden League rematch failed to materialise after Zhanna was offered just a fraction of Marion's appearance fees. Today's race was worth about $100,000 (a fair share of the event's $1,700,000 total prize money). After bickering about the lane draws it was eventually decided that Marion would run in Lane 2 and Zhanna in Lane 3. Marion smashed through the finishing line in 10.97 seconds leaving Zhanna in her wake at 11.11 seconds. It was great to see another sub-11 at Crystal Palace - Marion was the first woman to run under 11 seconds in the United Kingdom at the Crystal Palace Grand Prix just two years ago.

100 METRES - Women - Final - Wind: -0.5 m/s

1	120	Marion Jones	USA	10.97
2	268	Zhanna Pintusevich-Block	UKR	11.11
3	273	Chryste Gaines	USA	11.12
4	238	Tayna Lawrence	JAM	11.17
5	204	Debbie Ferguson	BAH	11.22
6	205	Kim Gevaert	BEL	11.45
7	224	Joice Maduaka	GBR	11.55
8	225	Abi Oyepitan	GBR	11.56

Bridgette Foster (#236) took the Women's 100m Hurdles in 12.65 seconds and edged out former world and Olympic champion Gail Devers (#270). Jenny Adams (#269) landed fourth place and Julie Pratt (#226) came eighth.

In the Women's 5000m Berhane Adere (#216) out-sprinted Gabriela Szabo (#248) to set a new record time of 14:33.65. Sonia O'Sullivan (#235) was third and Dibaba Tirunesh (#217) set a personal best of 15:04.54 and took fourth place. Marta Dominguez (#212) was fifth and Catherine Berry (#218) was eleventh.

In the Women's 800m Maria Mutola (#244) held off Jolanda Ceplak (#263) to win in 1:59.06 and they were the only two athletes to finish in under two minutes.