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Johnson, Greene make history

Michael Johnson became the most decorated gold medallist in athletics World Championship history with nine titles, nailing the last by anchoring the United States to a convincing gold in the 4x400 metres relay.

Earlier yesterday, teammate Maurice Greene did the same in the 4x100m sprint relay to complete a gold medal hat-trick in Seville.

Greene, who also has a 100 metres and relay double from 1997, was the first man to win a 100 and 200 metres sprint double at the worlds.

The two stars raised the final U.S. gold medal tally to 11, four more than 1997 and just two shy of the 13 golds they picked up at the 1996 Olympics in tlanta. The United States also had three silver and bronze each.

Meanwhile, Denmark's Wilson Kipketer completed an 800 metres hat-trick with a close win over South Africa's Hezekiel Sepeng in another of the nine finals on the concluding day of the nine-day championships in Andalusia.

Olympic champion Svetlana Masterkova added the 1,500 metres World title to her collection and there was another gold for the Russians from the 4x400m women's relay. Inga Babakova won the women's high jump for Ukraine and Finland's Aki Parviainen stole the men's javelin gold.

However, Johnson and Greene will be remembered as the top performers in Seville, where King Juan Carlos was the most prominent spectator among the 50,000 on hand on the final day.

Johnson, 31, finally got the 400 metres World record on Thursday with 43.18 seconds to tie Carl Lewis on a total of eight golds. The ninth was then a mere formality as together with Jerome Davis, Aantonio Pettigrew and Angelo Taylorm, he stormed to victory in 2 minutes 56.45 seconds.

Johnson now has the 1993 and 1995 200 metres titles, four straight 400 metres golds - 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1999, plus 4x400 metres relay titles from 1993, 1995 and 1999. He achieved the first 200 and 400 metres World double gold 1995 in Gothenburg and did the same at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

''It is a testament to what I want to do in my career. I wanted to come to all World Championships in the best shape and win,'' said Johnson, who also owns the 200 metres World record of 19.32 and has already announced he will attempt another 200-400 double at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Poland got the silver in the 4x400 with 2:58.59 and Jamaica took the bronze with 2:59.34 minutes.

In the sprint relay, Jon Drummond, Tim Montgomery, Brian Lewis and Greene clocked 37.59 to erase the shame of baton-drops in the heats of the 1995 and 1997 events.

Greene's three golds draw him level with Carl Lewis (1983, 1987) and Marita Koch (1983), who also won three golds at one event.

''I am very, very, very, very tired,'' said Greene. ''My body has done all it could and I don't know if I could have done another race.''

''I always believed I could do well, but it is up to you (the media) to decide who is the man of the championships.''

Britain got the silver in 37.73 and Nigeria took the bronze in 37.91.

Kipketer completed his return from a bout of malaria last year by edging out Sepeng by a mere two hundredths of a second when he won in 1:43.30. Sepeng had 1:43.32 and Djabir Said-Guerni got Algeria's first medal of the championships, a bronze with 1:44.18.

''It was not easy, there was some pushing in the first 300 metres.I always knew I would catch Sepeng. The only problem was that time was running out and I didn't know if I would make it before the finish line,'' conceded Kipketer, who leaped across the line.

In the women's relays the Russian quartett of Tatayana Chebykina, Svetlana Goncharenko, Olga Kotlyarova and Natalya Nazarova prevailed for the gold in 3:21.98, leaving only the minor medals for the United States and defending champs Germany with 3:22.09 and 3:22.43 respectively.

The United States was even unluckier in the sprint relay and missed the podium for the first time because of a poor first baton exchange between Cheryl Taplin and Nanceen Perry.

Together with 200 metres champ Inger Miller and 100 metres hurdles gold medallist Gail Devers they had to settle for fourth place in 42.30 seconds.

Sevatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Pauline Davis-Thompson and Debbie Ferguson won the gold for the Bahamas in 41.92 seconds ahead of France and Jamaica, who clocked 42.06 and 42.15 respectively.

The 800 and 1,500 metres Atlanta champ Masterkova returned to the top of the 1,500 metres podium in style when she ran away from Regin Jacobs on the home stretch and had a huge smile on her face when she clinched victory in 3:59.53.

The American Jacobs had to settle for her second straight silver in 4:00.35 and the bronze went to Ethiopia's Kutre Dulecha.

The women's high jump was an eastern European showdown. Ukraine's Inga Bobakova improved from her 1991 World and 1996 Olympic bronze medals by winning the gold with 1.99 metres, on a countback against the Russian duo of Yelena Yelesina and Svetlana Lapina.

Parvainen continued the proud Finnish javelin tradition with a 89.52 metres throw in his penultimate attempt, which left only the silver for the favoured Greek Kostas Gatsioudis (89.18).

World record holder and two-times World and Olympic champion Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic got the bronze with 87.67 metres.

Earlier, Song-Ok Jong of North Korea outran her only rival with two kilometres left to claim a stunning women's marathon gold medal for North Korea in 2:26:59 hours.

Japan's Ari Ichihashi took the silver with 2:27.02 and Lidia Simon of Romania got the bronze with 2:27:40 in a race where Olympic champion Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia seemed on course to the gold medal by snatching the lead at 30km, but eventually faded to fourth.

''My coach told me not to chase anyone in the first half. He said I should try once at 35 kilometres and if that didn't work out again at 40 kilometres,'' Jong said through a translator. ''These tactics worked.''

The closing ceremony followed later in the night. The top athletes will gather again next year at the Olympics and then for the next World Championships 2001 in Edmonton, Canada.

UNI