WINNIPEG -- There's a rumour going around that Montreal sprinter Bruny Surin once lost his temper.
No one believes it.
This guy gives laid-back a bad name.
Most sprinters are raving lunatics compared to Surin.
He is human, of course. He has been known to snap ... his fingers.
But really, rarely since bursting on to the international track scene in 1990 has Surin shown signs of bitterness or anger.
That is astonishing, given he has every right to be both bitter and angry.
SICK JOKE
He is one of the greatest Olympic-sport athletes in Canadian history but is far from a household name. While lesser men and women have cashed in on their Olympic performances, Surin is far from a rich man.
His extraordinary feats on the track have been overshadowed so often, it almost has become a sick joke.
At the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, Surin shocked the track world by winning a bronze in the 100 metres.
Afterward, all any of the reporters wanted to talk about was the disgrace of his former teammate, Ben Johnson, two years earlier in Seoul.
He has won two world indoor titles and nobody seems to care.
He won a gold medal in the 4x100-metre relay at the 1996 Olympics, and at two world championships, and all anyone can remember from those events is Donovan Bailey running the anchor.
Never mind that, in the relay preliminaries at the 1996 Atlanta Games, Surin actually saved the Canadian team from elimination with some fancy footwork while passing the baton off to Bailey, who mistimed the approach.
His second-place showing at the 100 metres at the 1995 world championships was overshadowed by Bailey's victory.
And just days after recording the fastest time in the world this year, a 9.92 in Nuremberg, Germany, Surin was cast into the shadows again by American Maurice Greene, who crossed the line in 9.79 at Athens, shattering Bailey's world record by five-100ths of a second.
But does Surin care about any of this?
Hardly. At a news conference yesterday to trumpet this weekend's Canadian track and field championships, the Haitian-born sprinter was happy to defer questions to Bailey.
At one point, he confessed to reporters that his family, not track, is the main focus of his life and that's why he never gets wrapped up in fame, or lack of it.
He is a hard guy to dislike.
Bailey considers Surin a great friend. He also considers him a diamond in the rough.
For years, Bailey has been trying to convince his fellow Canuck to relax over the final 50 metres during the 100. But Surin has resisted the advice.
"We've had some major fights about that," said Bailey, adding that he actually has got mad at his friend. "Now he's listening."
In the 100-metre final at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Surin fired out of the blocks and, for the first half of the race, looked as though he would bring the 100 gold back to Canada.
But alas, he faded badly and finished fourth. The problem? He began tightening up, which has been his Achilles heel, so to speak.
This season, at 31, Surin finally is learning to relax through a whole race, and the results have been impressive -- a 9.92 and a 9.97.
"He's learning to relax and learn about transition," Bailey said. "He knows now that it takes less energy to run under 10 seconds than to run 10.2."
Bailey believes that if Surin puts it all together, he can break Greene's world record.
Does Surin believe he can break the world record?
He would rather not say.