Speed and fury: Celebration gets off track

The U.S. men's 400 relay team offends some with its post-race antics.

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 1, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia -- They celebrated much like they ran. Fast and furious, and with little concern for anyone else on the track.

The U.S. men's 400-meter relay team made a mockery of the competition Saturday and then made a spectacle of itself.

An over-the-top celebration had the team members dodging criticism from U.S. teammates and jeers from the Olympic Stadium crowd of more than 107,000.

"It was just the whole way they went about it, with the comic faces and the posing," said Nanceen Perry, a member of the U.S. women's 400 team. "They even did it during the national anthem. How do you expect anybody to respect our flag if you don't show respect for it yourself?

"I think foreigners believe we're rude anyway, and this just kind of confirms the whole image the world has of us."

The celebration began typically enough with the athletes -- Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams, Brian Lewis and Maurice Greene -- taking a victory lap around the stadium with their fists full of U.S. flags.

That usually is the last fans see of the athletes until the medal ceremony later in the evening. The U.S. relay team, however, continued its preening as other events were being staged. The crowd eventually began whistling, the international equivalent of booing. Williams, from the University of Florida, repeatedly struck poses, a la pro wrestling star The Rock. He lifted the collar of his warmup jersey and arched his eyebrows while staring into television cameras. Drummond, with his shirt off, posed like a bodybuilder. Lewis had a U.S. flag tied around his head.

Lewis, 25, said he was aware the crowd was not pleased with the extent of the celebration.

"I heard them. That's okay," he said. "I know they wish Australia was in the race, so that's okay. We're still happy."

Williams, 22, was surprised to hear the celebration might have offended others.

"I have a gold medal, and I'm bringing it home to the U.S. I can't do anything about other people's opinions," he said. "I'm sorry they feel that way, but I'm still happy. We didn't mean to harm anybody. We felt good, and sometimes you get crazy like that when you're happy."

The celebration continued on the medal stand as Williams used his gold medal as if it were an eye glass and Lewis balanced his on his head.

Fans expressed their displeasure by giving a louder ovation when the silver medal team from Brazil was introduced.

At a news conference later, Drummond and Greene expressed surprise when asked whether they thought they went overboard in their jubilation.

"My answer to that is I've never won an Olympic gold medal before," Drummond said. "I didn't think we offended anyone. If they were offended, then I'm sorry."

Greene, who won the 100-meter sprint earlier in the week, seemed to draw a distinction between his actions and those of Williams and Lewis.

"They were just letting their emotions out," Greene said. "Bernard Williams has never been on this kind of stage before. He had a lot of pressure on him. People were saying he was going to be the one to crack, so when it was over, he just let his emotions out."

Drummond, 32, later said he would accept all responsibility as the eldest member of the team.

Five-time gold medal winner Michael Johnson, who is frequently at odds with Greene, said he did not see the celebration. He did, however, use the occasion to chastise what he said is a growing lack of respect and maturity on the U.S. team.

"The level of maturity is going to have to increase if we're going to have consistently strong performances," Johnson said. "The commotion I didn't see during the awards ceremony is probably another example of that immaturity.

"Now everybody is going to write that I said that. But I was asked about it. Obviously, some of you feel that way, so why don't you write about it? It's not going to change unless people start to talk about it. You can say, "Oh, it was cute,' but you know it wasn't."

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