Maurice Greene's Biography

Maurice Greene was born on July 23, 1974 in Kansas City.

From an early age, Maurice Greene showed ability on the track. In 1993, Greene achieved an amazing three years in a row of winning the double of 100 metres and 200 metres at the Kansas High School State meeting.

In spite of his natural talent, 1996 proved disappointing for Maurice Greene. His performances in the Olympic Trials were not good enough for him to make the American team.

It proved, however, the precursor to his best years. After his failure to qualify for the Atlanta Olympics, Maurice Greene left his long-time coach Al Hobson and switched to John Smith, the former world record holder for 440 yards and moved from Kansas City to Los Angeles.

Mo Greene, as he is sometimes known, was spectacularly successful between 1997 and 2001. In particular, in 1999, where Greene really asserted his dominance. He was the first ever winner of both the 100m and 200m at the 1999 World Championships in Seville. Maurice Greene collected his third gold medal of the competition with the 4 x 100m relay. The same year in Athens he set the 100m world record with 9.79 seconds.

Maurice Greene followed up with golds in the 100m and 4x100m sprints at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Greene's loss of form didn't come until he crashed his motorbike on a Los Angeles freeway at the end of February 2002, badly injuring his left leg. The injury almost ended Greene's career.

Undoubtedly, Greene's success has been helped by his confidence, which is reflected by various emblems in his life. Mo Greene owns the personalised number plate MO GOLD. He has a tattoo on his right bicep - G.O.A.T (Greatest Of All Time); and a tattoo of a lion's head on his arm (He explains: "because the lion's the king of the jungle, and I'm the king of the track").

Maurice Greene was ranked Number 1 for seven years up until 2003.

In February 2008, Maurice Greene announced his retirement, citing his consistent problems with injuries.

In 2008, Maurice Greene entered season 7 of Dancing with the Stars, partnering Cheryl Burke. They narrowly missed out on the semi-finals finishing fifth.

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