Osaka is finally ready for the world track and field
championships after two years' preparations as the 11th edition of
the world's third largest sports event opens Saturday at the
Japanese city's Nagai Stadium.
The meet will be broadcast to an estimated audience of 6 billion
people in over 190 countries and regions, with 85 percent of the
competition available on free-to-air television, said Lamine Diack,
president of the world's athletics' governing body IAAF.
"Only the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup are bigger than
the IAAF world championships in terms of global reach and impact,"
Diack said.
It's the second time for Japan to host the world championships.
Tokyo staged the event in 1991 when Carl Lewis smashed the men's
100m record and lost to Mike Poweel in the long jump.
Tokyo was also where Michale Johnson won the first of his record
nine gold medals and Japan won its first-ever world medals.
One of the most shining stars that will show up in Osaka will be
Chinese star Liu Xiang. The 2004 Olympic champion and world record
holder in the men's 110m hurdles will be looking to pick up his
first world gold as a stepping stone toward defending his Olympic
title next year in Beijing.
Osaka is lucky place for Liu, who has won consecutive Grand Prix
titles here.
Jamaica's Asafa Powell, who holds the world men 's 100m record
of 9.77 seconds, will also be looking to end a world championships
drought and earn his first global title.
But he is expected to meet tough challenge from American Tyson
Gay, who has the best times of the year in both the 100m and
200m.
World and Olympic 400m champion Jeremy Wariner of the United
States ran on the Nagai Stadium last May, he and coach Clyde Hart
have been confident of winning the title.
In the women's 5,000m, two Ethiopians will battle it out.
Tirunesh Dibaba, the two-time defending champion, will renew her
rivalry with Meseret Defar, who bettered the world record with
14:16.63 earlier this season.
In the Helsinki worlds two years ago, Dibaba completed a
5,000-10,000 double, including outkicking Defar for the 5,000m
title.
Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva, the world record holder in the
women's pole vault, is a hot favorite to retain her title here,
although a change in coaches and tweking of her technique has left
her short of her world mark of 5.01 meters set in Helsinki.
(Xinhua News Agency August 23, 2007)