Track and field set to start at Beijing Olympics

HOWARD FENDRICH August 14, 2008

BEIJING (AP) For a sport defined by bad characters and bad karma for years, the Olympics represent a chance to change the story line.

What track and field really needs is an athlete, a milestone, a moment to quiet all the discussion about doping and BALCO, about court cases and revoked medals, about Marion Jones.

The biggest meet of them all starts Friday at the Bird's Nest, and these next 10 days could help determine where the narrative goes next.

"We're out to do some amazing things," said Allyson Felix, a 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 200 meters and one of the faces USA Track & Field is counting on to alter perceptions, "and if we can really let people see that and draw in the fans, maybe we can change the state of the sport."

That's asking a lot.

Revelation after revelation about drugs have led to questions about whether the next unprecedented run or jump or throw might be too good to be true.

Track's leadership is quick to acknowledge the perception problem.

"People want to know that they're watching the real thing," said Sebastian Coe, the two-time 1,500-meter gold medalist from Britain and current vice president of the sport's world governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Doping, new USATF CEO Doug Logan said, is "a horrible black cloud" that "we have to prevent from choking the life out of the sport."

Track's popularity, Logan knows, is in decline: Swimming has overtaken track and field as the second-most popular Olympic sport among Americans, behind No. 1 gymnastics, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released this week.

So maybe NBC and the International Olympic Committee knew what they were doing when track and field wasn't given the same live-in-U.S.-prime-time treatment secured for swimming - aka "The Michael Phelps Show" - and gymnastics.

Those two sports' finals were shifted to the morning in China, which is the evening in the United States. Not so for track, which retains the more traditional setup of morning qualifying and evening medals.

Still, there are plenty of reasons to consider what goes on at the Bird's Nest must-see TV - even if it airs hours after it happens.

There's the men's 100-meter dash, of course, which gets under way Friday morning with the first heats.

Saturday night's final is expected to feature the tremendous trio of world record-holder Usain Bolt of Jamaica, Powell of Jamaica, and U.S. record-holder Tyson Gay - who own the eight best times ever, all 9.78 seconds or faster.

Bolt's mark of 9.72 might not last the weekend.

"Anything can happen," said Lamine Diack, IAAF president. "We can go below 9.70."

There's the 110-meter hurdles, which also showcases the current holder of the world record (Cuba's Dayron Robles) and the man whose mark he eclipsed (China's Liu Xiang). More intriguing, it showcases Liu himself, the reigning world and Olympic champion and the host nation's best hope for gold at the track.

Nothing like 1.3 billion people hanging on your every stride.

"It's going to be a joy to watch," U.S. men's coach Bubba Thornton said.

Though Liu's face is everywhere on billboards, he hasn't exactly been front and center in the Summer Games buildup. He last ran a race on May 10 in Osaka, Japan. He's scarcely been seen since, withdrawing from a meet later that month because of an injury, then getting disqualified from another race for a false start.

"People may think I am under great pressure now," Liu said in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV last month, "but I feel that day by day there is no pressure on me."

If he's healthy and good enough for gold, it could become as big a story as home-country darling Cathy Freeman's 400-meter victory at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Other things to look for:

- The potential for a U.S. sweep in the men's shot put Friday, which gregarious, 315-pound Reese Hoffa just might celebrate with a roundoff back tuck.

- Jeremy Wariner's attempt to defend his 2004 gold medal and break his manager Michael Johnson's 1999 world record in the 400 meters - all while trying to hold off U.S. teammate LaShawn Merritt, who has pierced Wariner's aura of invincibility by beating him twice this year.

- The first Olympics in which 1,500-5,000 runner Bernard Lagat will represent the United States after winning a bronze and a silver for Kenya at the last two Summer Games.

- Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie - who owns the world record in the marathon but is skipping that event because of Beijing's smog and heat - returns to the 10,000 and tries to become the first man to win three golds at that distance.

- Pole vaulters Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia against Jenn Stuczynski of the United States in a good ol' fashioned Cold War-style rivalry.

- World champion Janeth Jepkosgei vs. 18-year-old sensation Pamela Jelimo, two Kenyans who take the untraditional tack of front-running in the 800 meters.

- Recent world record-setter Tirunesh Dibaba and reigning Olympic champion Meseret Defar, the former record holder, in an all-Ethiopian women's 5,000 showdown.

While the world has been transfixed by Phelps' pursuit of a record eight gold medals in the Water Cube - through Thursday, he was 5-for-5, with a world record for each victory - the closest thing to a big medal haul by a track athlete could be Bolt's bid for three golds in the 100, 200 and 400 relay.

There won't even be less-ambitious attempts for double individual golds by Americans Gay, Felix or Sanya Richards.

Gay was hurt in 200 qualifying at the U.S. trials last month; he insists his hamstring is healed. Felix didn't qualify in the 100. Also, Felix and Richards failed to get the schedule tweaked to allow them to try to race in the 200 and 400; Felix only will be in the shorter event, Richards only in the longer.

Richards is among those keeping their fingers crossed that the focus will remain on the times and distances and medals until the men's marathon closes the Beijing Olympics on Aug. 24.

"I just don't want to hear about drugs. I don't want to hear about the cheaters," Richards said. "I just want to hear about the exciting matchups that we're getting ready to see, with Liu Xiang and Robles, Defar, Isinbayeva. There's too many exciting athletes competing for us to talk about. It's time to show the greatness of our sport."

But even before a race has been run, there was talk about doping. Former 100-meter world record-holder Powell complained about too many drug tests since he arrived in China, while last month, after a 1½-year investigation, seven Russian athletes - including a world record holder - were accused of tampering with urine samples and were suspended.

How pleased would Coe, the IAAF vice president, be if no track athlete failed a drug test in Beijing?

"It would be preferable, of course," he said, "but I live in the real world."

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AP National Writer Eddie Pells and AP Sports Writers Raf Casert, Steve Wilson and Ricardo Zuniga contributed to this report.