Chambers out to grab gold from 'fading' Greene

Europe's finest has done it plenty of times in races that don't matter - it was 5-1 to Chambers last year, and 1-0 this season - and he's heard all the stuff about Greene being in irreversible decline.

Yet the American still casts a spell over his rivals like no other even after two barren years.

Why else would Chambers, who beat all his main rivals, bar the absent Greene in London a fortnight ago, still admit to seeing himself as the "underdog"? Chambers reckoned that was the best way to guard against overconfidence but might it really be because the rest all fear Greene is still the man.

In this weirdest of years for 100m running, with none of the contenders able to assert any sort of consistent excellence, Greene struggled with early-season injury, lost four of five races and then disappeared so that he'll not have had an individual race for 44 days when he lines up in Sunday's heats.

Still, though, he's the second-fastest in the field on 2003 form. With world record holder Tim Montgomery having lost all focus and form following the birth of his child and physical problems brought on by a peanut allergy, and with Commonwealth champion Kim Collins now struggling with injury, Chambers should be buoyed.

Yet Greene's decision to skip the grand prix circuit and concentrate on preparing quietly with coach John Smith must nag away at his psyche.

Yesterday, Greene dispensed with all his tiresome macho stuff in deference to Chambers. Only the day earlier, though, he had been telling US reporters that he was "about to shock the world", that he was going to win in

9.8-something. He says he laughs about those who've penned his racing obits. "Everyone has been saying I'm done, I'm no good, I'm finished. Do you now what? Who cares what they say?"

This dangerous trashing of Greene may have only made Chambers' task seem more formidable. Weirdly, the feeling here is that the Briton faces the most pressure, not least due to the suspicion that success for an injury-racked GB team may be defined by what happens in Monday's final.

Chambers senses his responsibility. This is a race, he says, which "is going to make or break guys' careers" and, as ever, it is going to be about strength of mind as much as fleetness of foot. This summer, he's won four races in awesome fashion, but he's lost four too.

"I've got to go with a better mindset and be a bit more composed than in the past," he concedes.

He's done everything to ensure the real Chambers jets off here. Remi Korchemny, his demanding Ukrainian mentor who could become the first man ever to coach the men's and women's 100m champion - the American Kelli White - at a global games, has been "instilling a lot of self-belief" and, for a gregarious sort, his decision to seek isolation at a hotel rather than be with his mates in the athletes' village smacks of the sort of tunnel vision Linford Christie used to display.

Yesterday, Chambers glanced across at Greene, who was unveiling his new sprinting spikes called the 'Demolisher' and you could see a bloke who was thinking what it would be like to demolish not just a promising marketing campaign but an athletics legend too.

"Maurice has had it all his own way for too long," he pondered. Hopefully, he really can open that new chapter.