Editing Maurice Greene (sprinter) (section)

==Sports career==
===Early career and breakthrough===
In 1995 he took part in his first major international tournament at the [[IAAF World Championships in Athletics|World Championships]] in [[Gothenburg]], but was eliminated in the 100 m quarter-finals. His next season was disappointing, as he failed to make the American team for the [[1996 Summer Olympics]] in [[Atlanta]]. After watching the Olympic final from the stands, Greene made his way to Los Angeles to seek the coaching of [[John Smith (sprinter)|John Smith]]. He joined the start-up [[HSI (Track team)|HSI]] group. He went on to become the group's most visible member.

The following season would be his breakthrough. At the World Championships in [[Athens]], Greene won the 100 m title. This marked the beginning of Greene's dominance in the 100 m. He successfully defended his title in 1999 and 2001 and captured the Olympic gold medal in the [[2000 Summer Olympics|2000 Olympics]]. He was also successful at the [[200 m]]. At the 1999 World Championships, he also won the 200 m title, the first to win both sprint events at a World Championships. However, he did not run the 200 m at the 2000 Olympics after an injury at the US trials.

===World record holder and athletic prime===
In 1999 he set the 100 m world record at 9.79 s (+0.1&nbsp;m/s wind), beating [[Donovan Bailey]]'s standing world record of 9.84 s (+0.7&nbsp;m/s wind), and lowering the world record by the largest margin since the advent of electronic timing. Greene also matched Bailey's 50 m indoor world record time, but the run was never ratified. He also set the 60 m indoor world record twice. His 60 m indoor record is currently at 6.39 seconds. In addition, Maurice Greene was the only sprinter to hold the 60 m and 100 m world records at the same time. The previous [[IAAF]] logo was created in Greene's image.

In 2002, Greene lost his 100 m world record to fellow American [[Tim Montgomery]], who beat his time by 0.01 (9.78 s +2.0&nbsp;m/s), while Greene himself was injured and watched the race from the stands; Montgomery has since been found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs, and his record has been retroactively rescinded. The record was broken legitimately by [[Asafa Powell]] in 2005 with a time of 9.77 s (+1.6&nbsp;m/s wind).

At the [[2004 Summer Olympics]] in Athens, Greene added to his medal tally with the bronze after finishing third in his attempt to defend his 100 m title to Justin Gatlin, and a silver as the anchor leg runner on the United States 4 × 100 m relay team, narrowly denied another Olympic Gold by the British team, who won by 0.01 seconds.

Greene ran 52 sub-10-second 100 m races during his career, which at the time was more than any other sprinter in history. This record has now been surpassed by [[Asafa Powell]] who has 97 100 m sub-10-second runs to his name and [[Justin Gatlin]] who has 64 100 m sub-10-second runs to his name and equalled by [[Usain Bolt]] who has the same amount of sub-10-second runs with 52.<ref>[http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=O/age=N/season=0/sex=M/all=y/legal=A/disc=100/detail.html IAAF All Time 100 Metre list]</ref> Previously Greene had held the record for the most wind-legal sub-10-second clockings for 100 m in one season when he ran 9 sub-10s in 1999. This record was also broken by Asafa Powell in 2006 (12), and it was improved by Powell in 2008 to 15.

On December 21, 2006, he appeared as one of the "strangers" on the [[NBC]] game show ''[[Identity (game show)|Identity]]''. The contestant, a self-professed track and field fan, incorrectly identified him by name as [[Marion Jones]], although she identified him as the "world's fastest man."

===Post-running===
On February 4, 2008, Greene announced his retirement from track and field in Beijing, citing nagging injuries and a wish to see new individuals succeed in the sport. Greene said he hopes to pursue coaching and business interests.

In April 2008, the New York Times reported that Greene had paid Mexican discus thrower [[Angel Guillermo Heredia]] $10,000, which Heredia claimed was in payment for performance-enhancing drugs. Greene admitted meeting Heredia and making the payment but claimed it was common for him to pay for "stuff" for other members of his training group, and reiterated that he had never used banned drugs.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/sports/othersports/17track.html |title=I.A.A.F. Seeks an Explanation From Greene About Drug Allegations |author=Wilson, Duff |date=2008-04-17 |newspaper=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=2016-08-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Maurice Greene denies link to doping scandal |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/2297315/Maurice-Greene-denies-link-to-doping-scandal.html |access-date=30 January 2018 |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=14 April 2008}}</ref>

Greene was a contestant on Season 7 of ''[[Dancing with the Stars (American TV series)|Dancing with the Stars]]'', and was paired with two-time champion [[Cheryl Burke]]. He was eliminated in Week 8 of the competition, taking 5th place.<ref>[http://kickedofftv.com/?p=130 Kicked Off TV: ''Maurice Greene voted off Dancing With The Stars''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212144802/http://kickedofftv.com/?p=130 |date=February 12, 2009 }}</ref> He hyperextended his leg during the competition. He later helped out in their pro-dancer competition and danced a Tango with future winner Anna Demidova. Greene also appeared on the American television series ''[[Blind Date (American TV series)|Blind Date]]'' where he was paired with a woman named Christie. Greene and Christie agreed that they would see each other again.

He has a tattoo that reads GOAT referring to his claim to be the "Greatest of All Time".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/track/2004-07-08-cover-greene_x.htm |work=USA Today |title=Greene has 'Mo'mentum |author=Weir, Tom |date=July 9, 2004 |access-date=May 12, 2010 | archive-date=June 18, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618062114/http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/athens/track/2004-07-08-cover-greene_x.htm | url-status=dead}}</ref>