The buzz around the compact Olympic Stadium and a steady flow of athletes and other team members into the Athletes’ Village in Otaniemi, are the only signs in this neck of the woods that the IAAF World Athletics Championships are due in a couple of days’ time. Perhaps the Finns need to borrow a tip or two from Paris, which organised this event two years ago with massive publicity. But the organisers aren’t losing any sleep over it because they are sure about one thing: the quality of the competitors, despite the absence of some of world’s top athletes due to injury. Asafa Powell, the world’s fastest man, is here — but only to support his teammates. That would suit the reigning Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, who’s aiming for a double in the 100m and 200m events. At a media conference yesterday, Gatlin said he was not affected by the presence or absence of anybody, including Powell — adding, though, that he would have loved to beat Powell. He said his goal was 9.75 seconds — the world record is 9.77 — but his primary objective was to get the world title. ‘‘I am very hungry for success. My career is young and I hope I can go out and put on a great show’’, he said. Similarly, Olympic and four-time world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco has never participated in Finland and he won’t be seen here this time either. In his absence, there’s a four-horse race among Mehdi Baala, Daniel Kipchirchir Komen from Kenya, Ukranian Ivan Heshko and Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain. Bernard Lagat, who won the silver at Athens, isn’t eligible because he’s just changed his nationality from Kenyan to American and must wait for the right to compete in major championships. But the keenest competition could be in the 110m hurdles after the surprise of the Athens Olympics. Liu Xiang of not only became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic sprint title but he also equalled Colin Jackson’s world record time of 12.91. Though Liu’s best this season is 13.05, he would be wary of the presence of Allen Johnson and Terrence Trammell. Against this background, the only sure winner at the meet seems be Yelena Isinbayeva, who recently broke the five-metre barrier in the women’s pole vault. She has said that 5.50m is realistically possible and will approach it steadily. The main attractions Yelena Isinbayeva: She’s cleared 5m already, the women’s equivalent of 6m for men. And has records by the dozen Kenenisa Bekele: Ethiopian is going for two golds, something he attempted in Paris, in the 5,000m and 10,000m. Has world record in both 100m sprint: Justin Gatlin may be the favourite but Australian Patrick Johnson believes this could be his time Dwight Philips: World and Olympic long jump champ Dwight Philips has issued a warning: ‘I’m the best jumper in the world. If someone wants to win they’ll have to go through me’’ Great-in-waiting: Jeremy Wariner succeeded Michael Johnson as Olympic champion in the 400m. Now he’s coached by Johnson himself, and is expected to be the next big champion. Paula Radcliffe: A dramatic non-finisher in the marathon and 10,000 metres in Athens, Radcliffe restored pride by winning New York and London marathon.
