Maurice Greene
F.L. Schlage High School, track and field, sprints, Olympic gold medal winner, I.A.A.F., G.O.A.T.
He was… fast.
He still is, to be sure.
But fast is such a lacking word! Fast doesn’t earn a man four Olympic medals and two world records (held simultaneously, at that). Or the various other awards bestowed upon Maurice Greene for his incredible speed on the track. Born and raised in Kansas City, Kan., Greene’s abilities drew attention when he ran for the Schlagle High School track team. His specialty? Sprints. The 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash, the 4 x 100 relay race – in trackspeak, the One, the Two and the Four By One, respectively. Greene dominated the 60 meter dash as well, all culminating into an athletic scholarship at the University of Kansas (aka KU, in Lawrence, Kan.) and one hell of a fantastic future.
When he broke the 100 meter record in 1999, he already held the 60 meter record, which made Greene the first runner to hold both titles at the same time. This guy ran the 100 meter in 9.79 seconds. He was the fastest (recorded) human alive.
“Everyone is coming after me now. Fine, let them keep on coming. I’m the fastest man in the world — no doubt.”
After a sweeping victory in the World Championships next up was the 2000 summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Maurice scored two gold medals in the 100 meter and the 4 x 100 relay. He returned again, four years later, to the Olympic line-up, medaling twice more in Athens, Greece.
Nowadays, Maurice Greene serves as an ambassador for the International Association of Athletics Federation, an institution as old as 1912. The IAAF “governs” the world of games and competitions, keeping records and standardizing rules and regulations.
His 100 meter record was eventually broken by Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, and is presently held by Jamaican Usain Bolt at 9.58 seconds. Greene’s tattoo of the word GOAT — standing for his desire to be the Greatest Of All Time — attests to his devotion and ambition (…and maybe a slight bit of conceitment. But hey — he was the fastest man in the world). Though he can no longer make that claim, we still admire him for his many accomplishments.