A PICKPOCKET who tried to outrun Maurice Greene, the American sprinter, the fastest man on Earth, was being held in a Spanish police cell yesterday. Greene, who broke the 100-metre record in Athens just two months ago, set off after the thief at the airport in Seville, southern Spain, after seeing him dip his hand into the bag of a fellow member of the US athletics team.

It took Greene, who is capable of covering 100 metres in only 9.79 seconds, a few seconds to chase down the pickpocket as he tried to flee across the airport concourse.

The thief, despite having a generous head start, was cornered by Greene with the help of Larry Wade, a 110 metre hurdler who is currently the second fastest man in the world in his discipline. The pair were in the city for the World Athletics Championships, which start on Saturday.

Spanish police immediately arrested the man, who tried to protest his innocence. Police said yesterday the thief was a professional French pickpocket with an extensive criminal record whose speciality was to travel to major international events. They added that he had already been detained on 24 separate occasions and was due to be expelled from Spain.

Two members of his pickpocket team were arrested later. The episode was captured on film by a Spanish television crew who had been interviewing Greene at the time of the incident.

(The Times, London)