guardian.co.uk

Jones, who as a youngster wrote on a bedroom blackboard "I want to be an Olympic champion," got her wish on a chilly, wind-swept Saturday by winning the women's 100-metre final in 10.75 seconds.

Her winning margin of .37 seconds over Ekaterini Thanou of Greene was the second biggest in Olympic 100-metre history.

"It's been my dream for 19 years, and finally it's here," said a sobbing Jones, who hopes to win five gold medals in Sydney.

Jones had just completed a joyous, playful lap around the Olympic Stadium, waving small US and Belize flags (her mother was born there), when Greene sped to his gold medal with a time of 9.87 seconds. He then threw a shoe into the crowd, and wrapped himself in a flag.

"You work four years for something that's only going to last nine seconds. It's hard to do," Greene said. "I'm overjoyed and overwhelmed and everything and just filled with joy."

Jones, wearing chrome-plated shoes so shiny they looked like mirrors, went sleeveless on a cool night on which wind swirled around the sold-out 110,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

After a false start by Thanou, Jones made up an early deficit to Jamaica's Tanya Lawrence and sped past the field to win by a big margin. Thanou won the silver medal in 11.12 seconds and Lawrence was third in 11.18.

The only bigger winning margin in an Olympic 100-metre final, either men's or women's, was Marjorie Jackson's win by .38 over Daphne Hasenjager in 1952.

Jones' victory was the first step in what she has made a quest for five gold medals. Only one track athlete, the "Flying Finn" Paavo Nurmi, has won that many in one Olympics. He did it in Paris 76 years ago.

"It's nice to have the first one done. I don't know if it's going to be harder or easier (from now on)," she said. "I've seen a lot of Olympic Games, I've seen a lot of people cross the (finish) line and I was thinking about it.

"I was like, 'There's no way. I was going to cross that line and be a cool cat. I'm going to run, I'm going to celebrate. Then when you cross that line and everything all of a sudden just hits you when you realize that you can be described as an Olympic champion, finally, it was very emotional."

Jones' husband, shot putter CJ Hunter, was all smiles as his wife circled the track.

"I'm just very, very happy. That's what she likes is challenges," Hunter said. "I think this is the easiest of her events, but we're totally confident she can do anything."

Merlene Ottey of Jamaica, 40, who has won two silver and five bronze Olympic medals, just missed out this time, finishing fourth in 11.19 in the women's 100.

Ottey recently returned after serving a one-year drug ban. She was substituted at the last minute for teammate Peta-Gaye Dowdie - leading to protests by some Jamaican team members.

In the men's 100, Greene defeated training partner Ato Boldon of Trinidad and Tobago, who took silver after getting the bronze in 1996. He finished in 9.99 seconds. Obadele Thompson of Barbados was third in 10.04.

"I knew this was a race Maurice would have to give away for anybody else to have a chance," Boldon said. "Maurice just destroyed us out there, to be honest."

Greene failed to qualify for the 1996 Olympics and cried while sitting in the stands while watching the 100 final at the Atlanta Games. This time, he was all smiles as he crossed the finish line and thrust his fist in the air.

"I remember crying in Atlanta," Greene said "I'm glad it's all over. I have a lot of pressure off me and now I have other things I want to accomplish."

Chief among those goals, Greene said, was lowering his own world record of 9.79 seconds. When he received his medal from International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch, Greene blew kisses to the crowd.