Americans sprint onto Olympics scene

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

SYDNEY, Australia -- American sprinters, in the pool and on the track, dominated the Olympic landscape today.

Gary Hall Jr. and Anthony Ervin tied for the gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle, each swimming 21.98 seconds and beating double gold-medalist Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands.

Hoogenband, better known as the Flying Dutchman, took the bronze.

Hall and Ervin, just 19, train together in Arizona. They whooped it up together as they walked to collect their medals.

"I don't mind sharing the gold medal podium," Hall said.

At Olympic Stadium, Marion Jones and Michael Johnson looked like a couple of shiny new sports cars as they began their drives for history with flashes of chrome and gold.

The chrome covered the custom-made shoes Jones wore while cruising to victory in two heats of the women's 100 meters. The 100 is the first of five events in which Jones will try to win gold -- a feat never before accomplished by a woman at a Summer Games.

"I'm having a ball. I'm 24 years old, I'm in Sydney, I'm running great," she said.

Johnson, trying to become the first man to win the 400 at consecutive Olympics, strolled once around the track in gold racers -- the same color he wore in Atlanta four years ago. He had no trouble in his heat, winning in 45.25 and advancing to Saturday's second round.

The United States stayed on top of the medal count today, finishing the day with 40 (16 gold, 10 silver, 14 bronze). China moved into second place with 30 medals (14-7-9), overtaking Australia, which has 28 (8-11-9).

And Team USA even won in softball, keeping its gold medal hopes alive. Las Vegan Lori Harrigan worked 5 1/3 innings allowing one hit as the Americans beat New Zealand 2-0, snapping a three-game Olympic losing streak.