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Johnson's still the boss

At Uniondale, New York, Michael Johnson proved that he is still the boss, Maurice Greene left Donovan Bailey almost speechless, and one of track's most enduring stars showed signs that he might be finished, at last.

It was some night of track, at the Goodwill Games.

Johnson, the 1996 Olympic 200m and 400m champion, erased any thoughts that his career might be on a downslide, winning the 400 in a meet-record 43.76 seconds.

Greene, who has been bad-mouthed by Bailey since winning last year's 100-meter world championship, quieted the feisty Canadian by racing to victory in 9.96.

Bailey, coming off a series of injuries and illnesses, appeared to shut down with 80 metres left, and finished seventh at 10.30, far off his world record of 9.84.

But amid those highlights, Sergei Bubka, the greatest pole-vaulter in history, gave more signs that the end of his career is near.

The 34-year-old Ukrainian, who has set and reset the world record 35 times and is the only one to clear 20 feet (6 meters), no-heighted for the second time in three meets. On his final try at 18 feet, 8 1/4 inches (5.69), the 90-second time limit ran out and Bubka did not even make an attempt at the bar.

Jeff Hartwig went on to win the event at 19-8 1/2 (6.01), breaking his American record by one-quarter inch (.64 cms).

Greene and training partner Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, who finished second at 10.00, both stared down Bailey before the ballyhooed 100m.

"There were a whole lot of mind games going on,'' said Jon Drummond, the fourth-place finisher.

Bailey took it lightly, smiling, then saying, "Everyone's taking this too seriously. It's time to relax.''

Once they got into the blocks, there was no relaxing.

Greene blasted out quickly, established the lead and maintained it throughout, beating Boldon by one yard.

"I knew I had to capitalize on the start to win,'' Greene said.

Bailey offered no excuses.

"My preparation was exceptional,'' he said. "I guess I lost my concentration out of the blocks. Then, I was down so bad maybe 10 or 15 meters out, I gave up hopes of winning and thought I'd just run it through."

Greene summed up the outcome: "I guess I'm the world's fastest man. I'm just getting started.''

Johnson's time, meanwhile, was the 12th-fastest in history , and at this point he holds nine of the fastest times recorded since he ran 43.75 at Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1997.

He broke from the blocks quickly, took a slight lead until the eight-man field reached the final stretch, then blazed to a six-yard record.

Johnson's future had been clouded by two losses in his three previous races, but after winning at Rome last week, he said he felt healthy for the first time in more than a year.

"The two races in Europe did me a lot of good,'' Johnson said, before being presented the gold medal by heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield.

Tyree Washington, the runner-up in 44.43, said, "I tried to come up at the end, but Michael was very strong. Michael ran a great race.''

Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the 36-year-old world record-holder in the heptathlon who has not completed a multi-event since the 1996 Olympic trials, looked woefully out of shape at the start of the final heptathlon of her career. The two-time Olympic gold medalist finished her first four events in second place with 3,833 points, 34 behind leader Dedee Nathan.

"It's been difficult,'' Joyner-Kersee said. "I'm trying to stay positive and execute. I'm a fighter.''

The final three heptathlon events -- the long jump, javelin and 800m -- are due later tonight, but Joyner-Kersee doesn't have much chance of going out on a high.

Noureddine Morceli, the world mile record-holder from Algeria, swept into the lead just before the final lap and beat Kenya's William Tanui by six yards in 3:53.39, nine seconds slower than his record.

Britain's Jonathan Edwards, the world record-holder in the men's triple, won at 57-11 (17.65), matching the second-best in the world this year. Olympic champion Kenny Harrison finished last at 54-2 3/4 (16.53).

The gymnastics competition was marred by an injury to Lan Sang, a Chinese competitor, in the women's vault.

Officials said Lan apparently injured her head or neck during a practice vault. She was carried off the floor of Nassau Coliseum on a stretcher and taken to Nassau County Medical Center for a CAT scan of her neck and head, authorities said.

The prognoscis is still unclear.

Vanessa Atler, the US national champion in the vault, added the Goodwill Games gold medal to her haul. Atler, the national all-round champion from Canyon Country, California scored 9.662 to win.

In the men's floor exercise, Alexei Nemov of Russia won the gold with a score of 9.725. American Jay Thornton took the silver with 9.550.

Two other Americans won gymnastics medals -- Elise Ray, silver in the women's uneven bars and Yewki Tomita, bronze in the pommel horse.

Australia advanced to the medal round in basketball with an 82-64 victory over Lithuania. Andrew Gaze scored 26 points for the Aussies. Lithuania also advanced despite its first loss.

In water polo, the US lost twice by 10-5 scores. World champion Spain defeated the Americans with Salvador Gomez and Ivan Perez each scoring twice. Americans Brad Schumacher, Wolf Wigo, Chi Kredell, Chris Oeding and Todd Hosmer had one goal each.

Russia advanced to the gold-medal game by beating the US in the final round-robin match, and will meet Spain for the title.

Italy upset Spain 6-5 Tuesday night on a fourth-period goal by Leonardo Sotanni. Russia earlier beat Italy 7-4. The US will play for the bronze against Italy, which it beat on Monday.