
DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110830
SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  131 lines

WELCOME TO SPEED CITY NSU COACHES PROVIDE FORUM FOR WORLD'S TOP TRACK ATHLETES

It's a Thursday afternoon, and the world is beating a path to the Norfolk State University track.

Seems so, anyway, as practice nears and athletes begin trickling in to train. There are sprinters from the Ivory Coast, the Bahamas and Cameroon; distance runners from Congo and Burundi. They plop down their gym bags and begin stretching in small groups, talking in French, a common language.

``Oui,'' says NSU coach Steve Riddick, who doesn't speak French but is willing to go along. ``Oui.''

He shrugs his shoulders.

``Everything's oui.''

The athletes are part of the Norfolk International Training Center, a program founded by Riddick and assistant coach Ron Davis. Twenty athletes from eight nations train at the center, now 8 months old.

More, Riddick and Davis promise, are on the way.

``The word is out,'' Davis said. ``The phone is ringing from around the world every day.''

Word is out that Davis, who coached in Africa for 17 years and then ran the largest pre-Olympic training center in history, has relocated to Norfolk.

Word is also out that Riddick, a sprint specialist, has assembled a stable of sprinters that rivals any in the nation.

``This is becoming speed city,'' said Davis. ``I was at San Jose when the same thing was happening in the '60s. If you ran 10.3 there, you couldn't even make the relay team. The same thing is happening here.''

Already training under Riddick at Norfolk State were Tim Montgomery, currently ranked fifth in the world in the 100 meters; Brian Lewis, who is ranked 10th; and Andre Cason, who holds the world record at 60 meters. Montgomery and Lewis ran for NSU, while Cason is from Virginia Beach.

Joining them, through the training center, are a half-dozen sprinters from the 400-meter relay teams of Cameroon, Ivory Coast and the Bahamas. All run 10.35 or better. At least three will run for Norfolk State this year, which should make the Spartans an instant contender in Division I sprinting circles.

``We're taking over from Santa Monica,'' said Lewis, referring to the Santa Monica Track Club, home of sprinters such as Jon Drummond, Ato Bolden and Maurice Greene.

While the quality of sprinters may bring to mind Santa Monica, the famous California track club, the international flavor of the training center gets its inspiration from another well-known name in track and field: LaGrange.

Founded in 1992 by Davis, the LaGrange Training Center in LaGrange, Ga., became one of the big sidebar stories of the Atlanta Olympics. At its peak, in the weeks before the Olympics, the center hosted more than 600 athletes from 40 countries, including the entire South African Olympic team.

Davis integrated the athletes into the community through an ``adopt an athlete'' program. Politicians stopped by. So did movers and shakers from the International Olympic Committee. The center was featured in USA Today, the New York Times and on CNN.

``A small town in Georgia opens its arms to the world,'' Davis said, reciting the theme of many of the stories.

Opened them for a while, anyway. After the Olympics, interest in the training center waned, as athletes went their separate ways. Davis, disappointed but looking for another project, ran into Riddick, who had planned to host a pre-Olympic training center for African athletes in Norfolk but wasn't able to get it off the ground.

Davis knew Riddick as an athlete. Riddick knew of Davis' connections in Africa and with the IOC.

``Steve said, `Hey, man, come up here,' '' Davis said. ``Who knows? If I'd met Steve earlier we might have come here instead of LaGrange.''

Riddick and Davis divide the workload. Riddick handles the sprinters, Davis the distance runners. With the world championships coming up next month, someone is training at the center seven days a week.

Who pays for it? Some of the athletes at the training center are on grants from the IOC. Others are on grants from the Olympic committees of their home nations. Some of those with NCAA eligibility will run for Norfolk State next year, which already has athletes from eight nations on scholarship. Others will attend Norfolk State but won't compete. A few will attend Tidewater Community College.

They come for coaching expertise and to use facilities they don't have in their own countries. They live in off-campus apartments and work part-time jobs.

Typical is Eric Ndri, a 19-year-old sprinter who made the Ivory Coast Olympic team last year. After the games, he had nowhere to go and drifted up to Columbia, Md., to live with friends and train when he could.

Riddick spotted Ndri at the Penn Relays, where he was running unattached and being recruited by Ohio State, among others. Eventually, Ndri could run for Norfolk State.

At the training center, Ndri has hooked up with his countryman and relay teammate, 26-year-old Jean-Oliver Zirignon, who trained in LaGrange and came north with Davis.

``To be the best, you have to train with the best,'' Zirignon said in accented English. ``Since I come here, I live in the house, I come to the track. I leave the track, I go to the house.

``Each day is like a competition, so you improve levels very quickly. The spirit is good. It's a spirit of winning.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

L. TODD SPENCER

Andre Cason, left, explodes from the start at the NSU track against

Eric Ndri of the Ivory Coast as Serge Bengono of Cameroon looks on.

Ron Davis, who coached in Africa for 17 years, ran the largest

pre-Olympic training center last year in LaGrange, Ga., prior to the

Atlanta Games.

L. TODD SPENCER PHOTOS

Brian Lewis, ranked 10th in the 100 meters, is just one of many

sprinters from around the world training at the Norfolk

International Training Center.

Jean-Oliver Zirignon, left, and Andre Cason take their marks during