Kelli White waited for Jon Drummond's temper tantrum to end in the World Championships, then added her name to the list of great American female sprinters with a triumph in the 100 meters.

White, who also will run the 200, won in 10.85 seconds, a personal best, but her triumph Sunday night at Stade de France was overshadowed by Drummond's tirade after he was disqualified for a false start in the second round of the men's 100.

Also lost in the chaos was Kenenisa Bekele's victory over Haile Gebrselassie in the 10,000, a symbolic passing of the torch from one Ethiopian to another.

The men's 100 features world record holder Tim Montgomery and defending champion Maurice Greene, who both advanced to the semifinals. But the attention was grabbed by the highly emotional, and usually an also-ran, Drummond.

When called for a false start and disqualified, he refused to leave the track, shaking his head from side to side, repeating, "I did not move, I did not move." He lay on his back in his lane, arms folded in defiance as a blue-shirted meet official held the red foul card over him.

The scene descended into chaos. Meet officials huddled on the infield. The other sprinters in the heat walked about impatiently. IAAF head Lamine Diack, IOC chief Jacques Rogge and former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch watched from the stands.

Drummond lay there for some five minutes before finally getting up. He began to walk off, to the cheers of the crowd. He blew them kisses, then someone approached him and said something and he raced back to the starting line shouting, "I'm protesting this race."

They lined up again as Drummond demanded to run the race in protest. Asafa Powell of Jamaica, also called for a false start and disqualified came back out, too. IAAF officials said no way, though, and the disqualifications stood.

The incident was the result of a new IAAF rule on false starts. Only two are allowed in any race, with the athlete who committed the second one disqualified, no matter who did the first.

After he finally left the stadium, Drummond sobbed uncontrollably on the warmup track, then hugged his coach John Smith. Eventually, he released a statement, after it was explained that the computer that monitors the false start based on foot pressure had indeed called it a foul.

"I flinched, the guy next to me flinched, and another guy flinched," Drummond said. "I didn't understand the rule to mean that a flinch is a false start. I protested because this is my livelihood. At this point in my career, for me to lose an opportunity to pursue a dream, it crushes me. I walked away from what I had worked for the whole year."

USA Track and Field apologized.

"The U.S. delegation regrets the delay in Sunday's men's 100-meter quarterfinal competition," the federation said in a statement. "It was an unprecedented circumstance that was challenging to everyone."

The federation much preferred that the attention focus on women's 100, where White and teammate Torri Edwards finished 1-2. Edwards was clocked in 10.93 Defending champion Zhanna Block of the Ukraine was third in 10.99. The women's race was delayed by 30 minutes while the Drummond diatribe unfolded.

"The delay was a little bit much for us," White said. "We warm up for a certain time and when we get delayed a half an hour it's a little bit nerve-racking. But it turned out well, anyway."

White was sixth out of the blocks.

"My start was as awful as usual," she said. "I usually don't panic when I do get out bad. I just due what I'm taught and using the strength that we built up this year, I was able to push through."

But the next 90 meters were all White's. Her celebration was subdued. She moves on to the 200, where she hopes to become the first U.S. woman to win both sprints in a world championship. She politely answered questions about the absence of Marion Jones (news - web sites), who watched from the sidelines as a television analyst after taking the season off for the birth of her son.

White knows she has a ways to go to match Jones' spectacular career.

"I have years to go and a lot more growing and learning to do to be where she is," White said. "I have to look at her as a mentor and someone else that I can look up to."

The great Gabreselassie showed no sign of disappointment. It was more like pride for his young countryman.

"He will be an Olympic champion and world record holder, you can believe me," Gebrselassie said. "He's already an outstanding athlete."

Bekele won the race in 26:49.57, the 10th-fastest time in history, to lead an Ethiopian sweep. Gebrselassie was second in 26:50.77 and Sileshi Sihine third in 27:01.44. The Kenyans were shut out in the race for the first time in 20 years.

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