The 200-meter champion and other replacements help the U.S. team win the 4x100.
By Wire services
Published September 1, 2003
SAINT-DENIS, France - John Capel has no doubt what sport is his best. The pro football failure won twice at the World Track and Field Championships.
Capel added a 4x100-meter gold medal Sunday to punctuate a breakout performance in a meet where the big-name U.S. sprinters faded on the track and ran into big trouble off it.
"I can't even put in words how it is to come back from two years of watching the sport and saying "I don't know if I want to come back,' then being here in front of you today standing as the world champion twice," Capel said. "You can't put that into words."
Then teammate Bernard Williams stared at him and said, "Man, that's deep."
Capel, the 200-meter champion, laughed. The relay winners were giddy after the race. They played with their interpreter headphones, laughed at Williams' mugging and generally enjoyed a victory that seemed unlikely after Maurice Greene, Tim Montgomery and Jon Drummond dropped out of the meet.
Greene was hurt in the second round, and Montgomery left without explanation after finishing fifth in the 100. Drummond withdrew, then was kicked out by the IAAF, after his tirade following a false start in the second round.
Those three and Williams were supposed to make up the relay team in the final.
That made the win especially sweet for Capel, Darvis Patton and J.J. Johnson, who ran three heats and a final in the 200, then all three rounds of the relay.
"It's crazy," Capel, the former Florida and Hernando High standout, said. "These four guys were never supposed to be together, but we're here. We made it through all the adversity and all the downfalls. We stepped up to show that the United States, we still are a strong country and we always will be."
The 24-year-old from Brooksville has had quite a history. In 2000, he gave up his football career at Florida and roared into the Olympics, running the 200 at the U.S. trials in 19.85 seconds. But in the final in Sydney, Australia, he faltered out of the blocks and finished last.
Along the way, he had problems with marijuana use. Capel was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 2001 but was cut before training camp. That was followed by a brief stint with the Kansas City Chiefs, who also released him.
Coach Dick Vermeil told Capel to go back to what he does best, sprinting.
Capel says he has his life straightened out. He leads a pre- and postrace prayer with his teammates. He is the leading spokesman for his team. Patton, the Olympic silver medalist in the 200, and Capel could pose a serious threat to Greene and Montgomery for a spot on the U.S. Olympic team next year.
"Every Olympic trials is always hot, and sprinters are born every 30 seconds," Williams said. "If it's going to be difficult for them, it's going to be difficult for myself and for the other three guys that just ran. It's going to be difficult all over again because it's a brand new season, and you never know who's going to win until the end."
