Shawn
CrawfordEccentric but fast
Paul Gains for the IAAF
14 May 2002 - Shawn Crawford who dashed to a momentous 9.94 second 100m victory
over fellow American Tim Montgomery, the World silver medalist, in Osaka last
Saturday, has already forged himself a name in the world of athletics.
However, despite his growing collection of medals at 200m, a World indoor gold and outdoor 200m bronze last year, Crawford’s greatest days are still to come and not just at the longer sprint.
“My goals are to run 18.99 in the 200m and then run 9.72 in the 100m,” a very confident Shawn Crawford is telling us a few days after returning from a series of meets in South Africa this April.
“Did I hear you right? 18.99 seconds?” The 24 year old deserves an opportunity to adjust his grandiose - some would say ridiculous - prediction. “Yeah.” he replies without so much as a breath.
Considering his personal best 200m time of 19.85 was achieved only on his recent South African tour, at altitude nonetheless, doesn’t he realise that an improvement of the better part of one whole second is an awful lot to expect of himself? Michael Johnson’s World record of 19.32 is thought to be so far out there that it may be a decade or so before it is threatened.
However, we are also well aware that superb athletes must believe they are capable of the impossible for them to achieve such results. ‘Say it, mean it and do it!’ is their mantra.
The year began on an euphoric note with a 60m victory in the Verizon Millrose Games last February. Crawford ran an eye catching 6.49 - that puts him in some pretty formidable company.
“I knew I was going to run 6.49,” Crawford says. “No I wasn’t surprised by my time. That morning, when I woke up I told Renaldo (Nehamiah, his agent) ‘I am going to run 6.49 today.”
A year ago Crawford won at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Lisbon. His impressive form continued outdoors with his first U.S. outdoor championship win followed by a bronze medal at the World Championships in Edmonton.
With no major championship for Americans to focus on this season, he expects to compete often and well. Lowering his personal best times at both the 100m and 200m is goal number one.
“I figure if you concentrate on running personal bests and running fast all the time it doesn’t matter what year you are in - you are going to have success. And this is an off year and it takes a lot of stress off the athletes. They don’t have anything they are worried about so they tend to be more relaxed and concentrate on getting things right. So I think it will be a good year.”
Crawford was born in the small town of Van Wyck, South Carolina where he attended Indian Lakes High School. The school had only a few hundred students and no facilities for track. That didn’t stop him from excelling though. With his father Michael Gordon guiding him he wound up state 100m and 200m champion with times of 10.62 and 21.57 seconds.
Later Clemson University claimed his “raw talent” and when former hurdler Charles Foster took over as Head Coach in 2000, Crawford exploded onto the national scene winning both the NCAA indoor title in 20.26 and the outdoor one in a personal best 20.09.
Crawford is described as “eccentric”. Certainly he doesn’t conform to anyone’s description of a disciplined sprinter. While preparing for his race at the Nice Grand Prix meeting last summer, for instance, Crawford was seen walking around the hotel restaurant wearing ankle and wrist weights the day of his event. It was to build up his strength he told onlookers. Asked to describe a typical day in his life he reacts with a laugh.
“I just go and do whatever. I really couldn’t tell you a typical day. Whatever I feel like doing that’s what I do,” Crawford reveals. “My dad might ask me to do something and I go out there and do it or I might get out there and just turn around and go home. I go with what my body feels like.”
NB. A full length version of Paul Gains' interview with Shawn Crawford will appear in the next edition of the IAAF Magazine.