Track and Field: New Kids in the Blocks

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Crawford's training partner, the baby-faced Gatlin, is more outspoken. He's happy to run his mouth and his legs. "I want to get out there and dominate track and field," he said after running a personal-best 9.92 sec. in the 100 m at the trials. Although the Crawford-Gatlin matchup could be the rivalry track needs in its glamour event, the two friends see each other as teammates. "We're close, so we don't need that tension," says Gatlin. "We just want to finish one-two and think about everyone else behind us." And just who would be No. 1? That's why they race.

If any American can make people forget the doping scandal, it's Allyson Felix, 18, a phenom in the 200 m. Last spring Felix became the first U.S. track athlete ever to turn pro out of high school when she inked a six-figure deal with Adidas that included her college tuition at U.S.C. Felix is trained by a genuine oldhead, the legendary Pat Connolly, 60, a former UCLA coach who guided Evelyn Ashford to a gold medal in the 100 m at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

Connolly delayed her retirement to take on such a prodigy--and the whole track culture. "I felt like I had to protect Allyson from her own agent," she says of Renaldo Nehemiah, himself a hurdling legend and a former Connolly charge. "And he's not happy about that, but that's too bad." Connolly says a philosophical conflict antagonized her ex-pupil. She says Nehemiah wanted Felix to compete in as many meets as possible, especially lucrative ones in Europe. Connolly thought Felix needed more intensive one-on-one training to prepare for the Olympic trials. "If the agents just leave me alone, I'll get her there," says Connolly. "Allyson will be worth so much more to Renaldo if she gets a medal in the Games." Nehemiah declined to talk to TIME.

The duo compromised. Felix ran in North America only, but she did a Glamour photo shoot to expand her appeal. "It was a big adjustment," Felix says of training under Connolly. "I'm working a lot harder. But she has helped me see the whole picture in that we're trying to be good enough at trials but my best at the Olympic Games." She was more than good enough in Sacramento--she finished first and ran a 22.28 in the 200 m, the second best time in the world this year. Felix is peaking at the right moment. Says Connolly: "She hasn't run her fastest race yet."

No pole vaulters are caught up in the scandal--no surprise. The vaulters know they're odd enough without drugs. "We all have a screw loose," says Toby Stevenson, at 27 the youngest vaulter on the U.S. team and the only athlete in the world to clear 6 m (19 ft. 8 1/4 in.) this year. He's not only a gold-medal favorite; he's also a crowd favorite. At his urging, fans cheer as he approaches a runway. With his frizzy locks escaping his crash helmet--"I've always used it for safety," he says, citing a recent wave of vaulting accidents--Stevenson dashes toward the box like some horseless jouster, plants the pole and after ascending over the bar, pumps his fists wildly before hitting the mat.