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Bolt-Gay showdowns to highlight 14-meet Diamond League

(China Daily/Reuters)
Updated: 2009-11-23 09:06

MONTE CARLO: Jamaican triple Olympic and world champion Usain Bolt and main sprint rival Tyson Gay have praised the new Diamond League series while declining to say where they would clash next year in on the 14-meeting series.

"It's going to be awesome, so people look out for it," Bolt told a dinner meeting on Saturday to launch the series, which promises more head-to-head competition.

"It's going to be good for the fans," United States 100m record holder Gay said. "There's not going to be ducking (out of meeting your top rivals)."

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Both sprinters, plus Jamaica's former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell and six other top athletes, have already committed to seven meetings in the series, which has competitions in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. More are expected to join them. Distance runner Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, pole vaulters Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia and Australian Steve Hooker, women's 400m sprinter Sanya Richards of the US, high jumper Blanka Vlasic of Croatia and javelin thrower Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway are the other contracted athletes.

"The concept is good for more showdowns," Bolt said. "So I am really looking forward to it. It is good for the sport and it is going to be good for us to keep competing against each other."

Either Bolt, Gay or Powell will be in each of the 14 meetings. Many will have two of them and a select few all three.

But Bolt was reluctant to say where.

"I will compete any time it is necessary," he said, adding it will be his agent and coach who will decide "what time I run and who I run against".

Gay was more specific.

"I will be racing Bolt at least three times or more," said the world's second fastest man who recently had groin surgery.

"I'd like to run against him as many times as possible," he said. "If he's in my race it's going to make it so exciting."

Both sprinters are expected to run the 100 and 200m on the circuit. Like Bolt, Gay will most likely focus on the 100.

"I'm going to run some 200s but I'm going to concentrate on the 100," he said. "That 100m diamond is what I want."

The objective of the league is to create more head-to-head competitions between top athletes and additional international exposure for the sport through a unified presentation.

"What we have seen in the past few seasons is a yearly calendar and agenda for the athletes that didn't work," Patrick Magyar, vice chairman of the Diamond League and organizer of the Zurich meeting, said.

"The idea is to bring back competitiveness into the meetings and bring back all disciplines."