7/10/2008

BY JOSEPH GOODMAN

[email protected]

DAVID J. PHILLIP / AP

Walter Dix took a gamble by not accepting endorsement offers before the U.S. trials. That is why he ran in his FSU uniform.

On the hot South Florida asphalt, Walter Dix figured out he was a pretty fast kid.

Dix, now a member of the U.S. Olympic track and field team, had jet engines for legs. Everyone knew it. Street football was the game of choice back then, and the neighborhood knew Dix could flat-out burn.

In the Rock Island neighborhood of Fort Lauderdale near Dillard High School, Dix first showed off his speed at age 9. His competition, a 13-year-old, was the fastest kid on the block. Dix still remembers the street: NW 24th Court.

''I beat him by a lean,'' said Dix, who attended Coral Springs High. ``He took me lightly, and that's what happens.''

FAMILIAR SCENARIO

And that is what happened to Shawn Crawford at the U.S. Olympic trials last week. Crawford, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the 200 meters, lost to Dix by a lean. It was closer than a photo finish. Five one-thousandths of a second.

Dix, a three-time national champion, qualified for the Beijing Games in the 100- and 200-meter dashes last week during the trials. He held a news conference at Florida State University on Wednesday. The news conference wasn't necessary, but Dix had a message for the track world: Told you so...