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Saturday, September 30
Other Americans felt display was wrong
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Maurice Greene and his teammates on the
U.S. men's 4x100 meter relay squad showed they were the fastest in
the world. Then they had to backpedal after a display of jubilation
that some other Americans found offensive.
|  | | The behavior of the winning U.S. 4x100 relay team has been brought into question. |
The foursome -- Greene, Jon Drummond, Bernard Williams and Brian
Lewis -- preened and flexed their muscles during their victory lap
and then also on the victory stand while receiving their medals.
On the victory lap, the Americans -- two of them barechested and
wrapped in the stars and stripes -- postured and posed for several
minutes.
After getting their medals from former Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger, the foursome clowned on the victory stand during "The
Star-Spangled Banner." Greene stuck his tongue out at cameras.
"The girls were thinking we're kind of ashamed. For us, we
tried to handle it with more dignity. That's not the image we want
up there," said Nanceen Perry of the U.S. women's 4x100-meter relay
team.
"The whole way they were going about it, making all sorts of
comical faces -- you could do a little bit of that, but they were
doing it throughout the national anthem," Perry added. "How do
you expect anybody to respect our flag if you don't. I think
foreigners think we're rude, anyway, so it just confirms the whole
image they have of us."
|  | | Brian Lewis plays with his gold medal during Saturday's award ceremony. |
Greene and Drummond later apologized for their actions, saying
they were caught up in the excitement of the moment and were sorry
if they offended anyone.
"Jon Drummond never won an Olympic gold before, so sorry,"
Drummond said. "You have a lot of emotion bottled up. Your focus
is on one thing for so long. When we finally have that opportunity
to exhale, we're just expressing ourselves the way we know how."
When the U.S. men's 4x400 meter relay team of Michael Johnson,
twin brothers Alvin and Calvin Harrison and Antonio Pettigrew got
their gold medals a short time later, they were joyful but polite
during the national anthem.
Johnson, who has clashed verbally with Greene all year, was
asked whether he had seen the antics of the other relay team.
"I didn't see it, but I can only imagine," he said with a
smile.
There was a similar incident at the 1972 Munich Olympics
involving Americans Vincent Matthews and Wayne Collett, who
finished 1-2 in the men's 400 meters and then talked during the
national anthem and were booed by German spectators.
The two men were banned by the International Olympic Committee
from further competition at those games, and the United States was
unable to field a 4x400 meter relay team.
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