Greene Maurice

Although the rest of the track and field world might have felt as if it had taken a punch to the stomach when Michael Johnson withdrew two days before Sunday's 200-meter final in the U.S. track and field championships, Emanuel Hudson did not. The manager of the HSI (Handle Speed Intelligently) club said he saw it coming three weeks ago. "Remember Johnny Carson, the Amazing Kreskin character, when he held up that envelope to his head?" Hudson said.

Although the rest of the track and field world might have felt as if it had taken a punch to the stomach when Michael Johnson withdrew two days before Sunday's 200-meter final in the U.S. track and field championships, Emanuel Hudson did not. The manager of the HSI (Handle Speed Intelligently) club said he saw it coming three weeks ago. "Remember Johnny Carson, the Amazing Kreskin character, when he held up that envelope to his head?" Hudson said.

When Maria Garcia tells classmates at Palisades Charter High she's a speedskater, they usually stare in disbelief. "Most people think it's a sport [based] in the East or the Midwest," she said. "People look at me and say, 'Huh?' If they've heard of speedskating, they think of long track and Bonnie Blair, and I have to go through the whole process of explaining what short track is."