Gail Devers won gold in the women's 100 meters at the IAAF Golden League meet in Zurich earlier this month.
		By Joe Klamar, AFP

But that's too pretentious for Jacobs. "Don't soft pedal it. It's the Old Ladies Club."

Sprinter-hurdler Devers, who turns 37 in November; middle-distance runner Jacobs, 40 next week and half-miler Miles-Clark, 37 next month, are the oldest and most decorated of the U.S. women in the meet that starts Saturday and concludes Aug. 31.

They were on the 1988 Olympic team when sprint phenom Allyson Felix, at 17 the youngest member of the U.S. team in Paris, was 2. They've combined for 49 national titles and 33 No. 1 event rankings in the USA.

• A two-time Olympic 100-meter champion, Devers is the favorite in the 100 hurdles and just took over the No. 1 spot in the overall rankings of current women's track athletes.

• Jacobs, coming off a world indoor title in the 1,500, broke 4 minutes for the event for the first time during indoor season.

• Miles-Clark, a medal threat in the 800, dominates the event in the USA and has set three national records since contesting it seriously in 1996.

Money players

They're not the first in track to compete successfully beyond what is considered the athletic prime of 27-32.

But they are part of the first generation that could make a lucrative earning in a sport that, until the mid-1980s, forced athletes to adhere to amateur status to remain eligible for competition. They could be the vanguard of more and better "older" competitors.

"Absolutely," says Tom Craig, who is Jacobs' coach and husband. "The money is there in track, and that's a motivating factor. It's no longer amateur hour where you do your one or two Olympic cycles, become broke and realize you better hurry up and get a real job. This is a real job."

It's also a labor of love.

"Sometimes it's hard — the workouts, the weather, aches and pains," says Miles-Clark, coached by her husband, J.J. Clark, who is also the women's coach at Tennessee. "I love the sport, I love running and I love competing. I'm going to do it as long as I feel I want to. Nobody is kicking me out."

Jacobs is leaner (down 10 pounds, to 114), faster and more fulfilled by running than she was in her 20s.

"In my 20s, I didn't consider myself a runner," says Jacobs, a 12-time U.S. 1,500 champion. "I considered myself a racer. I hadn't yet fallen in love with running.

"Without love of the process of running, training and everything else that goes into the details of becoming a great athlete, you're never going to achieve the goals you want."

Devers, who survived a career-threatening bout with Graves Disease in 1991, feels rejuvenated in her second year of coaching herself after 18 years of working with Bob Kersee.

"People think I'm lying, but I feel like I'm 19 again," says Devers, who tapes her workouts and then studies them. "I love coaching myself. It's making me depend on myself. For so many years I waited to hear somebody's voice tell me what I did wrong and how to correct it.

"Now I have to do that on my own. It's keeping the sport exciting for me."

Talent plus

Besides their young-at-heart attitudes and love of dogs (Devers has a Pomeranian and Jacobs a poodle they consider training partners), the trio has another common denominator: athletic talent beyond their specialties.

With a little more lifting, Devers could become a bodybuilder. At UCLA she was a 22-foot, 2½-inch long jumper and a 43-8 triple jumper. Jacobs has impressive range, winning U.S. titles from 800 to 5,000. Miles-Clark was a ranked 200 runner and was an NCAA Division II runner-up in the long jump.

"You better have great genes to extend your career out," says Craig. "Look at (NFL receiver) Jerry Rice and other 'older' successful competitors. They're extraordinary athletes."

The continuing successes of Devers, Jacobs and Miles-Clark also registers with fans, who contact them to express appreciation. Devers is familiar with the demographics: "Men and women from 35 to 50-something. People write to me to say they're inspired to see me competing well and have gotten back to or started an exercise regimen," Devers says. "That I can be an inspiration is a positive thing for me."

All three are committed to competing through the 2004 Olympics but have thought about posttrack plans. Devers wants to start an "enhancement center" that concentrates on school children and senior citizens.

Miles-Clark and J.J. Clark have contemplated opening a running shoe store.

Jacobs' vision of the future includes competing in age-group road races.

"That would really be cool," Jacobs says. "I love being out on hour-and-a-half and two-hour runs. ... I love what I do and do what I love."