Good times have returned for Olympic champion Maurice Greene and possibly the U.S. 100 metres sprint team.
A year after the United States failed to win a medal in the world 100 metres final, Greene predicts the Americans could sweep next month's final in Athens.
"If we all stay healthy, we can win gold, silver and bronze," Greene said on Sunday.
The fastest 100 metres final ever at the U.S. Olympics trials forms the basis for Greene's optimism.
Greene led the charge with a championship record 9.91 seconds. Former world indoor sprint champion Justin Gatlin finished second in 9.92 seconds and Gatlin's training partner, Shawn Crawford, took third in 9.93 seconds.
"We just want to show the United States has the best sprinters," said Greene.
His winning performance was his best non-wind assisted time in two years and the 47th sub-10-second clocking of his career.
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Fully healed from a broken leg he sustained in a 2002 motorcycle accident he kept secret for two years, Greene signalled he will be the man to defeat in Athens, always one of his favourite cities.
"People counted me out," Greene said of the injuries over the past two years that led to several defeats.
"That doesn't bother me. I believed in my heart I'd come back. I know as long as I'm healthy, I can do anything."
There is even talk of taking the world record back from Tim Montgomery, who finished seventh in Sunday's final.
"The world record will come to me," Greene said. "I just want to keep trying to perfect my race."
Greene will tune up for the run for gold in Athens with as many as four European races.
"He will run in Paris (on July 23) and we are in discussions with London (July 30) and we hope something will work out," Greene's manager, Emanuel Hudson, told Reuters.
Hudson said Greene was also considering running in Stockholm on July 27 and anticipated competing in Zurich on August 6.
Then he will attempt to win a repeat Olympic 100 metres gold medal in Athens. He won his first world title in the Greek city in 1997 and set a world record there in 1999 that stood until Montgomery ran 9.78 seconds in Paris in 2002.
Greene also expects to pick up a 4x100 metres relay gold medal to go with the one he won in Sydney four years ago.
"The only way we won't win the gold is if we drop the baton," he said.
