ATHLETICS - MITCHELL DEFEATS BAILEY IN FRONT OF FORMER CHAMPIONS .
Adrian Warner
BERLIN 1996-08-30
American Dennis Mitchell outclassed Olympic 100 metres champion Donovan Bailey for the third time at a major post-Games meeting in front of the most experienced sprinting crowd in the world on Friday .
Watched by an array of former Olympic sprint champions at the Berlin grand prix meeting , Mitchell made a brilliant start in the 100 metres and held off Bailey 's strong finish to win in 10.08 seconds despite cool conditions .
Bailey , who set a world record of 9.84 on his way to victory in Atlanta , could not catch his American rival and had to settle for third in a tight finish .
Jamaica 's Michael Green was second with 10.09 with Bailey finishing in 10.13 .
Last Friday Mitchell , who finished fourth at the Atlanta Games , upstaged a trio of Olympic champions including Bailey to win the 100 in Brussels .
Earlier this month he also beat world champion Bailey in Zurich .
Berlin , Brussels and Zurich all belong to the most lucrative series in the sport , the Golden Four .
Among the crowd on Friday were Olympic 100 metres champions going back to 1948 .
They had been invited to the meeting to watch a special relay to mark the 60th anniversary of Jesse Owens 's four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics in the same Berlin stadium .
" Today the concentration was the most important thing for me , " Mitchell said .
Despite the coolish conditions American Olympic champion Gail Devers looked in commanding form in the women 's 100 , clocking 10.89 to defeat Jamaican rival Merlene Ottey , who was second in 10.94 .