Heard arrives, at last.

Byline: Phil Sheridan

SYDNEY, Australia _ Floyd Heard is vague on the specifics. It's all ancient history after all, and as a 34-year-old sprinter, Heard has a keen understanding of the word ANCIENT.

The picture he paints of his prime years is made with broad strokes, an impressionistic swirl of greed-mongering agents and sponsors, of also-ran disappointments. At the center of the canvas, like the figure in Munch's "The Scream," is the young Floyd Heard.

"They had me chasing money," Heard said softly the other day. "There was a lot of pressure. Every meet, I had to run fast. They made an issue of it. If I didn't run fast, I wasn't going to make any money. It got so it was on my mind during workouts. I love track, but it got so it just wasn't fun anymore."

Heard is the oldest American ever to qualify for his first Olympics. He will be competing this week in the men's 200 meters, and he …