Clemson's Allen hopes for Canadian relay spot

By ANN GREEN

Gannett News Service

ATHENS, Greece -- Around Sterling Woods Apartments in Clemson, S.C., Charles Allen tries to blend in, just another graduate student on a tight budget.

He has a trace of an accent, which isn't strange for a grad student in Tigertown. He likes to read a lot and follows cricket.

Aside from members of the track team at Clemson, few people recognize him as a two-time Olympian, he said.

This semester, grad school has been put on hold for the 27-year-old Allen. But he has a good excuse for his professors.

Allen is representing Canada in the men's 110-meter hurdles and is in a pool of runners vying for a spot on the men's 4 x 100 relay team at the Athens Olympics.

He currently is in training camp in Grosetto, Italy, northwest of Rome on the Mediterranean.

If he misses the pine trees of his adopted home in the foothills of upstate South Carolina, he can take in Grosetto's piney woods and rocky coastline for diversion.

Not that there's much time for sightseeing.

He's preparing for competition beginning Aug. 24 in the hurdles and Aug 27 in the relay at Athens Olympic Stadium. Canada's runners in the relay will be named closer to the event.

Right now Allen is feeling the tug between his love of the hurdles and his aspirations for making the relay team.

``It's very hard,'' he said Monday by telephone from Italy. ``I'm not at all focused on the hurdles because the 4 x 100 takes up a lot of my time.''

Allen was born in Guyana but is a citizen of Canada. At Clemson, where he earned an undergraduate degree in education, he was a five-time All-American in the 4 x 100 relay and 4 x 400 relay.

He competed for Guyana at the 2000 Olympics and holds Guyana's national record in the 100 hurdles.

When his days as a world-class athlete are behind him, Allen is looking toward an administrative job working with students or perhaps at coaching.He is pursuing his master's degree in counseling and leadership. ``I have one more year, and I'm doing an internship,'' he said.

``I'll be a little behind when I get back, and I'll have to catch up with my school work. I'm looking forward to it. There's an environment there that I value.''