SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Metal fences topped with barbed wire gleam in the hot afternoon sun. Inmates loll about, hoping to catch a cool breeze. An orange-vested guard keeps watch.

A lone convict runs the prison track, circling the dusty yard.

Since a soul-searching stint in solitary confinement nearly five years ago, Jonathan Gill has been diligently training toward his seemingly farfetched goal of being an Olympian.

Veteran coach Dick Brown, who has trained eight Olympians, believes Gill, 34, has the raw talent to compete in the 1,500 meters. But when Gill is released next month from Santiam Correctional Institution, he’ll have to train hard, stay healthy and avoid trouble.

“When I was 18 years old, I wanted to be a track star. I just didn’t have the mind for it,” said Gill, who has been in prison for the past six years. “Now I’m walking out of here and into my dream.”

Once a promising prep runner from Michigan, Gill’s fortunes turned in 1997, when in an alcoholic haze he robbed Track Town Pizza in Eugene of $256. He said he pretended to have a gun in his backpack.

A shrine to Oregon’s rich track and field tradition with photos of local stars such as the late Steve Prefontaine, Track Town is a favorite haunt for runners. Gill even ate there before the robbery.

He went home and passed out. The night started to come back to him on a run the next day, he looked in his duffel bag, “and sure enough, there was the money,” he said.

A week later, Gill was recognized by a Track Town cook at a sports bar. To make matters worse, he tried to run – in handcuffs – from the police officers who arrested him.

Already on probation for robbing a Gap store, Gill was sent to prison under mandatory sentencing guidelines for second-degree armed robbery.

During his first year at Snake River Correctional Institution, Gill fought other inmates and talked back to the guards. He was placed in solitary confinement for four months.

It was there on his 30th birthday – Dec. 21, 1998 – that Gill came up with the idea of running.

Gill said he told himself: “All you’re doing is saying you’re going to run, you’re going to be a champion. Even in here you’re still saying it. But what are you doing? You’re not running. Either you’re just going to give up running and do something else. Or, if you’re going to keep running, you’re going to commit totally.”

Gill had moved to Eugene in 1996 to train under Brown, who has worked with such athletes as Mary Slaney and Suzy Favor Hamilton. But Gill had a drinking problem he couldn’t shake.

“It was just maddening that I had all the things in life that I thought I needed to be a championship runner, and I can’t quit drinking,” he said. “I tried the religious route, I tried Alcoholics Anonymous, I was seeing a sports psychologist.”

In solitary, Gill committed to sobriety, along with a training routine. He follows a program called Smart Recovery – an abstinence program that stresses self-reliance in overcoming addictive behavior.

As he worked out at Santiam, a minimum-security facility that houses prisoners three years or fewer from release, a convict in the bleachers yelled: “Run, Jonny, run!”

Gill has run countless circles at several state correctional facilities, in rain and sunshine, in temperatures in the teens and in hailstorms.

On this day, Brown stands off to the side, watching and chatting with two convicts.

Brown is a familiar figure at the prison. In addition to his frequent visits with Gill, the prison has a track club that Brown often speaks to.

When Gill is released Aug. 14, he will move in with Brown for a time to train while he adjusts to living on the outside again.

He has a short 11 months to prepare for a chance at 1,500 meters in the July 2004 Olympic trials. Starting in April, Gill will push in competition for the trials’ qualifying time of 3 minutes, 39 seconds.

“If he trains well, and stays healthy, and does all these things right and we have a good race to be in, yes, I believe he can do it,” Brown said.

Gill would not be the first ex-convict to win a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. Michael Bennett, one of three boxers to represent the United States in Sydney, served seven years in prison for armed robbery.

USA Track & Field, track’s national governing body, said there are no rules that would prevent a convicted felon from being considered for the Olympic team.

Getting there is another matter.

Gill will need the 3:39 to qualify for the Olympic trials. Then, he would have to place in the top three and have met certain Olympic qualifying standards to even be considered.

The 1,500 meters is a very tough event for Americans because of the extremely fast qualifying standards. The “A” standard is 3:34.90, while the “B” standard is 3:37.10. Jason Lunn, considered one of the United State’s top prospects in the event, has a personal best time of 3:36.74.

“The only way to completely guarantee a spot on the Olympic team is to win the trials and reach the ‘A’ standard,” said USATF spokeswoman Jill Geer.

Tom Jordan, meet director of the annual Prefontaine Classic, said if it weren’t for Brown’s backing, Gill probably wouldn’t be considered a serious runner.

Brown has said he hopes Gill can qualify for the trials in the Prefontaine Classic next year. Gill will need to have run a 3:49 to even be considered for the event, Jordan said.

While confident and even cocky, Gill has not been tested against any elite runners. He knows that his age makes this his only chance.

Still, Gill believes the hardest part of his life is behind him.

“If you give your best effort and you know for years you’ve trained properly and done all the little things – dropped the hammer in cold rain, and trained when you didn’t want to on sore muscles – if you do that over years and you still don’t make it? So be it,” he said.

“Hey, you gave it your best shot.”

AP-ES-07-25-03 1928EDT