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All eyes on Liu as athletics events start

Kamesh Srinivasan

The Americans will hope to catch up with China in the medals tally

— PHOTO: AFP

THREE-WAY SHOWDOWN: The 100m race is widely expected to feature a tight race between Jamaicans Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, and American Tyson Gay.

BEIJING: It may be a wet start to the athletics programme in the Olympics that kicks off on Friday, as it has been raining quite a lot. It rains around this time of the year in these parts, and rain is no surprise. Cuban Dayron Robles looms as a larger threat to the Chinese fans.

The hosts, leading comfortably in their gold hunt at home on the sixth day of competition, will be looking up to the world and Olympic 110m hurdles champion, the 25-year-old Liu Xiang, to repeat his success — that he had lost the world record to Robles recently and has been hampered by a hamstring strain notwithstanding.

As Colin Jackson, the man who had held the world record in the event for 13 years, had suggested, it is Liu’s race to lose.

“It is an incredible pressure for the young man.” said Jackson.

But, pressure is what drives champions. And, Liu can become a much bigger star if he wins the Olympic gold by recapturing the world record.

Notably, Robles had clocked the record 12.87 in Ostrava in June, and looks in good form.

The main event

The immediate focus in the programme will be on the blue riband event, the 100m final on Saturday. With two rounds of heats scheduled on the opening day, the top three stars in the fray — world record holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica who ran 9.72 in New York in May, his compatriot Asafa Powell and American Tyson Gay, the world champion over the 100m and 200m, will be involved in a showdown that could well turn out to be the best sprint battle in history.

Adding to the suspense and tension was the charge from the Jamaicans on Wednesday that they have been subjected to too many dope tests since arriving in Beijing. Bolt and Powell have been tested four times and the world record holder stated that he was already feeling weak with such an amount of blood having gone out of his body.

Gay will be running for the first time since the US trials last month when he hurt his hamstring.

There will be two finals on the opening day.

Tirunesh Dibaba, the world champion, will attempt to win the women’s 10,000m while her elder sister Ejegayehu, who had won the silver in Athens, may make it a family 1-2. The two, of course, will have to tackle Shalane Flanagan of the US who has the fastest time of the year at 30:34.49.

The Chinese would hope for a home-grown winner to succeed Xing Huina who had won the gold in Athens, but opted to sit the Olympics out for lack of preparation. It was one of China’s two gold medals from athletics in the last edition, and pretty precious for it to retain. Bai Xue looks its the best bet.

The other final on the opening day will be the men’s shot put. Reese Hoffa, Adam Nelson and Christian Cantwell, with a rich history of world class medals behind them, will attempt an American sweep of the event. Defending champion Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine, with a season’s best of 20.41 metres, and the bronze medallist at Athens Ralf Bartels of Germany, will seek to thwart the Americans.

The day will also see Bernard Lagat of the US, attempting to get into his rhythm to improve on his bronze at Sydney and silver at Athens in the 1500m. Lagat is the world 1500m and 5000m champion, and will open his campaign in the first event on the opening day.

In the women’s 800m, all eyes will be on the 18-year-old Pamela Jelimo of Kenya who has won all the four Golden League meetings so far. Her season best 1:54.97 is seventh in the all-time list.

The fact that Olympic and world champion, Karolina Kluft of Sweden and the former world champion Eunice Barber of France have opted to confine themselves to just the long jump will rob a lot of charm from the heptathlon. Kelly Sotherton of Britain will be the favourite.

Tatyana Lebedeva of Russia will warm up for the long jump by competing first in the triple jump, in which she had won the silver at Sydney and the bronze at Athens.

The US will look for medals in the 400m hurdles through Kerron Clement, Beshawn Jackson and Angelo Tylor. Defending champion Felix Sanchez of Dominican Republic will be the major hurdle for the American aspirations in the event.

More than anything, the Americans will be keen to jump up in the medals table with their domination in athletics. They had won 25 medals the last time, including eight golds.

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