WHILE the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League Play-offs, Formula One Grand Prix racing and other major sporting events will attract thousands of participants and spectators next weekend, millions of sports lovers and viewers worldwide will be following the events as they unfold at the 13th IAAF World Athletics Championships which will be staged in Daegu, Korea. The world’s premier athletics event starts next Saturday and during the course of nine days keen rivalry and intense competition involving the world’s top athletes will be up against rising stars who are determined to establish themselves as the next set of global sporting celebrities.
While the United States of America has maintained the global crown as the top athletics nation for a very long period, Jamaica with its legendary star sprinter Usain Bolt will attempt to challenge the Americans’ supremacy at the Championships.
The Americans have finished first, nine times and second twice, of the last twelve completed Games.
Overall, USA athletes have celebrated with 120 gold medals and are being trailed in a distant second by Russia with 37 and Kenya, with their long-distance tradition, third with 31.
The 2011 U.S. contingent comprises 129 athletes, including 66 men and 63 women, and they will be seeking to better their 2009 performances when they headed the medals standings in Berlin with an overall tally of 22 medals, including 10 gold, 6 silver and 6 bronze. Jamaica placed second with 13 overall, including seven gold.
Although the USA held sway with the most medals at the Berlin Championships, it was the emergence and sensational sprinting prowess of Usain Bolt and his compatriots that stole the spotlight and headlines throughout the world during the global sporting spectacle that defined the greatness of some of the world’s leading athletes.
At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bolt lit up the iconic ‘Bird’s Nest’ and produced phenomenal burst of speed that thrilled those at the stadium and the millions worldwide viewing the action live on their TV sets.
Bolt charmed the world with his antics and bubbling personality and cemented his place in the annals of sports history with two of the greatest feats accomplished as he celebrated with double gold medals and two world records in the 100 and 200 metres finals.
He also starred in the sprint relay (4×100) gold and new world record for a perfect three in three world best performances.
Those commanding and mind-boggling victories were so impressionable that they overshadowed even the unprecedented and stupendous heroic feats achieved by undefeated American swimmer Michael Phelps who won eight gold medals, including seven world records and a new Olympics record in the eight events he participated in at the quadrennial Games.
Both Bolt and Phelps gained legendary status with their super-human performances but it was Bolt’s stunning and incomparable 100-metre race that lingers for posterity.
The Beijing Olympics started on August 8 but it was on August 16 when the lanky Jamaican blazed the track in breath-taking fashion and clocked a new world record time of 9.69 secs and eclipsed his own world of 9.72 secs he had set at the Reebok Grand Prix in the USA two months earlier.
And he followed up with another amazing new world mark of 19.30 secs to better American Michael Johnson’s 200 metres record of 19.32 secs.
Bolt reigned supreme again and showed that his majestic display of power sprinting at Beijing Olympics was no fluke when he out-sprinted his world class rivals at the 2009 IAAF World Championships and improved on his world record performances in both distances.
He improved both world records by a margin of 0.11 secs with a 9.58 secs timing in the 100 when he beat Tyson Gay (9.71secs) and Asafa Powell (9.84 secs) into second and third respectively.
Although not in the best of shape, Bolt still produced another marvellous display of controlled acceleration and powered home for the 200-metre gold medal in a new world record time of 19.19 secs.
No other athlete in the history of sprinting had achieved such amazing back-to-back doubles and crowned them with new world records.
The Jamaican further enhanced his legendary status and that of his nation as the new sprinting capital of the world. And although he and teammates did not better their Beijing Olympics sprint relay world record time of 37.10secs, they still won the coveted gold at the World Championships.
On the distaff side, Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Francis also out-sprinted the Americans and her compatriot and won the Beijing Olympics 100 metres. The ‘Pocket Rocket’ repeated at the Worlds in Berlin. She and compatriots won both sprint relays and confirmed Jamaica’s supremacy over the Americans and the rest of the world.
In my next feature for Wednesday (August 24), I will delve more into women’s athletics and their chances at the upcoming World Championships.
For each of his new world record performances at the Berlin Worlds, Bolt collected US$100 000 and a similar amount will be at stake for whoever achieves a world record at this year’s championships.
Bolt’s 2011 season has revealed that he is not at the peak of his sprinting ability but who knows, with the thought and motivation of wanting to redeem himself following some lacklustre performances; we could yet witness another superlative effort in his quest to add more precious metals to his bulging collection.
His compatriot Asafa Powell has thrown down the gauntlet and registered some very fast times during the 2011 season. Powell will be his major challenger for the gold but Trinidadian Richard Thompson with a blistering season’s best of 9.85 secs has also emerged as a strong contender for the coveted title and gold.
Thompson surprised everyone when he placed second in the Beijing Olympics 100 dash with 9.89 secs but lost some form due to a car accident in December 2008. At the 2009 Worlds, he finished fifth behind Bolt, Gay, Powell and Antigua & Barbuda’s Daniel Bailey (9.84secs).
Gatlin, a former World and Olympics champion, was banned for using performance-enhancing drugs twice but in his career, yet is allowed to race again.
Jamaican Steve Mullings, a trainer partner of Tyson Gay, has been tested positively for banned substances and has been shamed and currently faces a life time ban from the sport. Like Gatlin, this is also the second time he has tested positive.
Tests of both A and B samples return positive for a masking agent which is used as a blocker for the banned substance which some athletes and their agents describe as the ‘real stuff’.
USA’s current sprint champion Michael Rodgers has also returned positive for a banned drug and will be forced to miss the World Championships.
Mullings (9.80sces) and Rodgers (9.85secs) had clocked the third and fourth fastest time of the year in the Eugene, Oregon outing on June 4 when they finished first and second ahead of a world class field that included Nesta Carter (9.92), Darvis Patton (9.94), Michael Frater (9.94) and Gatlin (9.97).
Surprisingly, Gay has withdrawn from the Worlds and with two ‘druggies’ debarred, Powell with his season’s best 9.78 secs for victory at Lausanne on June 30 remains the fastest in the 100 metres line-up.
Bolt’s 9.88 for first place in Monaco on July 22 showed that he is getting back into top form while Thompson’s 9.85 will definitely serve as a psychological boost for ‘Super Race’ by the Caribbean ‘Big Three’.
As I mentioned in my last feature story on Wednesday (August 17) and judging from the manner he powered away from a high-class group at the T&T’s Senior Open Championships last Saturday, Thompson is right on track to create a major upset should Bolt experience one of those slow starts or even a stumble, lapse or miscalculation during the race.
And with Powell boasting that he is ready to change history, we should witness another scorcher in the marquee race of the World Championships.
In the 200m race, I expect Bolt to retain his golden crown while America’s Walter Dix and compatriot Justin Gatlin battle for the silver and bronze. I have a feeling that once Trinidadian Rondel Sorrillo keeps improving his form and peaks at the Championships, he can beat the Americans and become the surprise package in the quarter-lap race. 
The 400 metres will be a straight fight among the Americans with new champion Tony McQuay (44.68secs), defending World champion LaShawn Merritt (44.74) and Angelo Taylor (44.79) making it through to the final.
But Grenadian teenager Kirani James clocked the fastest time for the year with 44.61 in London on August 5. He can spring the upset while Jamaican Jermaine Gonzales, Bahamian Chris Brown and Trinidadian Renny Quow will make this event most exciting.
The 800 metres will be another straight battle between two Kenyans. Kenyan new world record holder David Rudisha and 2009 World silver medallist Alfred Kirwa Lego, who finished second to South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, are the top guys. Mulaudzi has withdrawn from the Championships while Sudan’s Abubaker Kaki is a dangerous customer and is capable of splitting the Kenyans.
The Kenyans will put on a show in the 1500 with Silas Kiplagat, Nixon Kiplimo Chepseba and Asbel Kiprop – the main challengers for the medals.
At the time of writing, there is no confirmation that Ethopia’s great distance champion Kenenisa Bekele will defend his world titles in the 5 000 and 10 000 metres.
Once he has recovered from his injuries, Bekele will be fighting all the way to the finish line. I love watching this guy over both distances and he is definitely the greatest that I have seen.
Depending on his overall race fitness, Bekele could race only in the 10 000 which he has won a record four times. And he would want to become the first athlete ever to win a record five consecutive world titles.
His major rivals will be Great Britain’s Mohammed Farah, American Bernard Lagat, Kenyans Isiah Kiplagat Koech and Eluid Kipchoge as well as fellow Ethiopian Imane Merga and Sileshi Sihane in the 5 000 and Farah, Merga, Sihine and Kenyans Josphat Bett Kipkoech and Paul Kipugetich in the longer race.
The men’s 110 metres hurdles will be the tightest finish with Cuban Dayron Robles, Chinese veteran star Xiang Lui, American champion David Oliver and American rising star Jason Richardson being the ‘top guns’ racing over the high hurdles for victory.
In the 400 hurdles, South African LJ Van Zyl is touted to beat Americans Kerron Clement, Jeshua Anderson and Bershawn Jackson. T&T’s world junior champion Jehue Gordon who was fourth in 2009 should also be in the final.
I am predicting that Americans Michael Watt will prevail in the long jump although he will receive stiff competition from Panama’s Irving Saladino and Zimbabwean Ngonidzashe Makusha.
America’s Jesse Williams will battle with Russians Aleksey Dmitrik, Andrey Silnov and Aleksandr Shustov for the high jump gold while Frenchman Renaud Lavillene will seek to topple Australian world champion David Hooker and American Brad Walker in the Pole Vault.
Rising French star Teddy Tamplo will attempt to win the triple jump gold from Great Britain’s Phillips Idowu and Sheryf El-Sheryl, Cuban Alexis Copello and American Christian Taylor.
Canadian 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games champion Dylan Armstrong is another rising star who would be striving to better European champion Andrei Mikhnevich of Belarus and American trio of Christian Cantwell, Adam Nelson and Reese Hoffa in the Shot Put.
Norway’s Andreas Thorkidsen is sure favourite for the Hammer title while Hungary’s Zoltan Kovago will be attempting to dethrone German Robert Harting in the Discus.
Americans Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee will go head to head for the Decathlon gold while Cubans Leonel Suarez, Yordani Garcia and Estonian Mikk Pahapill will have to stalk out one another for the bronze.
Relay races are always exciting to watch and the Jamaicans will be strong in their defence of the sprint relay while the Americans will dominate 4×400. Trinidad and Tobago picked up silver at both the Beijing Olympics and Berlin Worlds and they are a much faster and more experienced this time around. Can they shock the Jamaicans and won the gold?
It would be nice for you to pick your winners and match the results of the 2011 World Athletics Championships. It would also be interesting to see how much I have been able to track these stars throughout the year and predict the outcome of their biggest challenge for the season.
My selection for the female athletes will be published on Wednesday.