BERLIN (AP) -- Like most of the world's track stars running at the ISTAF meet Friday, Maurice Greene is aiming to send a loud and clear signal to the competition before the Olympics.

 Whether it's Greene, Marion Jones, or Morocco's Hicham El Guerreouj, ISTAF is the last stop before the top athletes fly home to get prepared for Sydney.

 Greene may have the most to prove at the moment, since he ran a slow 10.24 seconds last week at Gatesmouth, England, something he chalked up to icy cold and a late starting time. He was just third.

 "This is a very important meet. It's the last race and I want to run a fast time and show everybody that I'm fit and prepared to win at the Olympics," said Greene, the world record-holder and 100 meter favorite at the games.

 ISTAF is also the last of the seven Golden League meets, meaning a $1 million jackpot will be split among the athletes who have won five of the seven events in the lucrative series.

 Only U.S. 110-meter hurdler Gail Devers has won five races and is guaranteed a split in the money, which will be symbolized by gold bars stacked inside the track. Devers pulled out of the meet late Thursday with a light thigh injury, but four others hope to join her with a fifth win Friday.

 El Guerreouj will be aiming for a share for the second straight year. Norwegian javelin thrower Trine Hattestad is still in the running, as well as Greene and Russian Tatyana Kotova, the rising long jump star.

 However, this year the looming Olympics, where the track and field events begin Sept. 22, is the dominant theme and not the jackpot.

 "It will be nice to have a good performance, to keep the spirits high heading into the Olympics," said Jones, who will run the 100 meters and 4 x 100 relay.

 And the American star still insists she feels no pressure at all as Sydney creeps closer, where she will try to capture five golds. At ISTAF, she will get a first chance to run together with several teammates that will form the U.S. relay team.

 "I'm competing well and running fast -- I don't see it as any pressure at all," Jones said. "Without a doubt, going into Sydney, I'm confident that I'll do whatever it takes to win."

 Jones said she isn't expecting the relay team to produce any earthshaking times that will give hints of what will happen at the Olympics. Instead, the race gives the Americans a chance to get comfortable with each other and work on baton handoffs.

 "After the race, I plan to go home and get a couple of good day's training before I head off, probably on Sept. 9 or 10th," she added.

 Jones isn't likely to face much competition in her 100 race, while Michael Johnson isn't likely to struggle in the 400 either. Britain's Mark Richardson, one of the few people to beat him at the distance in recent years, and fellow Americans Antonio Pettigrew and Jerome Young are entered.

 Johnson, 400 world record-holder at 43.18, said earlier in the week he believes cracking 43 seconds is possible for him. But that landmark isn't likely to come at ISTAF.

 "My times have been fast enough. I'm not trying to run fast here, I'm trying to run fast in Sydney," said Johnson, who will run one more meet on Sunday before heading home. "The goal is to have a good strong finish before going to the Olympics."

 But Hattestad will be trying for a world record in the javelin -- her third in as many months. She will be pushed by top competitors like Germany's Tanja Damaske and Russia's Tatyana Shikolenko.

 "If the competition is this good and the conditions are good, I think it's possible," Hattestad said.

 Kotova, the 24-year-old Russian, is brimming with confidence after winning four golden league events this year. She will face a tough field at ISTAF and may be the one Marion Jones has to beat in the long jump if she wants to claim five golds as planned.

 "I did not do anything special to win the Golden League competitions and to beat the strongest rivals," Kotova said. "It was not very hard. But I am lucky because now I have no unbeatable rivals."