http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport/hi/english/olympics2000/athletics-track/newsid_925000/925610.stm
Maurice Greene has unofficially broken his 100m world record, after a sensational training session at Sydney's Olympic Stadium.
The US sprinter clocked 9.78secs, 0.1secs inside his own world mark on just his fifth hard sprint of the afternoon.
The run will not count because the time was clocked in training conditions, but the effort left those who witnessed it in no doubt that Greene is ready to win gold.
Perhaps the only person who failed to acknowledge the brilliance of the performance was Greene's coach, John Smith.
"I won' be happy until next Saturday," Smith said, referring to the 100m final which takes place on 23 September.
Greene set the official world record of 9.79secs in Athens last year a few months before he retained the 100m title at the Seville World Championships.
The time for his training run was not recorded electronically, but, after his 9.86secs run a fortnight ago in Berlin, there seems little doubt he could break his world record in the Olympic final - if the weather is favourable.
