Gail Devers, who won the 100 meters in 1992 and ‘96, brings longevity to a women’s team that has its share of youth, too.
For a mix of youth and longevity, it's hard to top the U.S. women's team, which boasts a pair of five-time Olympians in Gail Devers and Jearl Miles-Clark, along with sprinter Allyson Felix, who was 2 when her teammates made their Olympic debut.
"The key to my longevity is still having fun," said Devers, 37, who won the 100-meter gold in 1992 and 1996. "Going out on my own and coaching myself has been my biggest challenge. Now, when I go to the track, there is no one with me."
When it comes to Olympic track participation, there is no one with her. Miles-Clark is officially a five-time Olympian, but attended the 1988 Games only as a member of the relay pool and did not compete. They join the only other woman in U.S. women's track history to qualify for five Olympics, distance runner Francie Larrieu-Smith, who did not participate in the 1980 Olympics because of the U.S. boycott.
Some of Devers' best competition will wear the same uniform in Athens: her 110 hurdles win in the U.S. Trials was by .002 seconds over Joanna Hayes, who ran the second-fastest time in the world this year in the trials semifinals.
Felix, an 18-year-old who won the 200 at the trials, is hardly the only standout from the younger generation. Team USA includes 19-year-old Sanya Richards, a standout 400 runner just two years removed from high school in Fort Lauderdale, as well as 20-year-old Lauryn Williams, a 100 sprinter from the University of Miami, and 21-year-old Sheena Johnson, a hurdler who recorded the second-fastest 400 time in NCAA history last year while competing for UCLA.
LESS MARION: Marion Jones, who won three golds and two bronzes in Sydney, won't have the same presence in Athens, where her only assured event is the long jump.
Jones pulled out of the 200 and placed fifth in the 100, where she could still earn a berth if runner-up Torri Edwards is suspended for testing positive for a banned stimulant. Jones, who gave birth to her first child last summer, has faced drug-related media scrutiny of her own, but appeared eager to return to the Olympic spotlight after the trials.
"This just happened to be a really bad year. I can't quietly have a bad year," said Jones, who could also be named to the 4x400 relay. "I'm optimistic that I will end the year on a high note with several gold medals. This down year gives me more motivation to prove myself to the world that I still have it. That I'm not a shriveled up old mother that can only run 11.14, that I'm a 29-year old that can still get it done at the world level."
HIGHER THAN EVER: Pole vaulter Stacy Dragila cleared 15 feet, 1 inch when she won gold in Sydney, and in preparing to defend her Olympic title, she set her personal-best this year with 15-10.
It might take even more to keep the gold, as Dragila was bested by 2 inches at this year's World Indoors with a world-record vault by Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva, who at 22 seeks to become the first woman to clear 16 feet.
Dragila is focused instead on reclaiming the world record, and her mark of 15-7 was still enough to win the U.S. Trials by 8 inches.
"We have a solid team going to Athens," she said. "I feel blessed to be a part of it. I'm really thrilled."
