That's the way U.S. Olympic long jumpers Melvin Lister and Savante Stringfellow reacted to racial remarks by Australian jumper Jai Taurima.

Australian newspapers yesterday quoted him as saying that because of the cool conditions expected for the Sydney Olympics, "you can pretty much knock out all the dark athletes.

"We jumped in Salamanca (Spain) a month ago, and those guys just couldn't compete well in bad conditions," he said. "It was wet and cold."

Lister, winner of the U.S. Olympic trials, and Stringfellow, the U.S. indoor champion and NCAA outdoor champion, both of whom are black, were seething when told of Taurima's statements.

"I would rank them the same as the John Rocker comments," Stringfellow said, referring to the Atlanta Braves' reliever who in December made disparaging remarks about foreigners, gays, women and New Yorkers. "That was very unprofessional on his part. Maybe he doesn't know any better."

"I can understand him having the confidence to beat us - but to come at us racially," Lister said. "I want him to know I wasn't satisfied with the comments he made. All that can do is cause animosity between the U.S. and Australia."

Taurima's best is 27 feet 4 3/4 inches. Lister, the NCAA indoor and outdoor champion in 1999, has jumped 27-10 1/4 this year, and Stringfellow's best is 27-2 3/4.

Taurima - a Queensland resident who is described as half Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand - also dismissed any chance of U.S. long jumpers winning a medal in Sydney.

"Americans are Americans, aren't they?" he said. "They only jump big in America. These three guys are a bunch of dribblers. That's all I'm saying."

Trash-talking captain

Gary Payton has been trash-talking nonstop - during scrimmages, after practice and on the team bus. No one is immune and no topic is off-limits to Payton, who became one of the captains of the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team yesterday.

Payton, Alonzo Mourning and Jason Kidd were voted tri-captains of the U.S. team.

Armstrong escapes injury

Lance Armstrong suffered only bruises after he and another cyclist were hit by a car in southern France in an accident that destroyed his bicycle and smashed his helmet into pieces.

The two-time Tour de France champion took the brunt of the impact with the car Tuesday, but X-rays proved negative, said Dan Osipow, a spokesman for the San Francisco-based sports marketing firm Disson Furst and Partners.