Spotlight on Bolt again

BEIJING — Not for the first time, sprint king Usain Bolt — arguably world sport’s most recognizable figure — is shouldered with the burden of not only racing against and beating proven doping cheats, but also bringing a much-needed ray of sunshine to the track. Can the pressure ever have been higher on the Jamaican showman to perform? To go out and execute his race well enough to ensure gold, enabling him and the IAAF to snub their noses at the doping scourge that has cast a thick cloud over athletics ahead of the August 22-30 World Championships. And, as if track and field’s governing body had penned the script itself, where better for Bolt to perform than at the very venue where he made his name. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you my friend. We will be meeting soon #Beijing2015,” Bolt recently tweeted alongside a photo of the Chinese capital’s iconic Bird’s Nest Stadium. It was there during the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a 21-year-old that Bolt kicked off his sparkling career, blasting to a memorable double gold in the 100 and 200m before anchoring the Jamaican 4x100m relay team to glory. Since then, Bolt has gone on to win every Olympic and world sprint and relay title on offer, save the 100m in Daegu in 2011 when he was disqualified after a false start. “In the period since I have been president, Usain Bolt’s outstanding performances across many competitions stand out,” outgoing IAAF president Lamine Diack said. “His fame has transcended athletics.” Sebastian Coe will succeed Diack following a vote by the IAAF’s 214 member federations Wednesday, and the victor will know they need a lot more than one stand-out, clean athlete to fight the doping problem the sport faces. For one, the sprinter most favored to knock Bolt off his perch is Justin Gatlin, the American who finds himself in the form of his life at the age of 33 having served two doping bans, including one from 2006-10 after wrapping up the 2004 Olympic 100m title and the 2005 world sprint double. Aside from Bolt, eyes on the track will focus on the Jamaican’s close friend Mo Farah, the Briton who will be seeking a third consecutive world 10,000m title and second in the 5,000m, distances over which he is also reigning Olympic champion. Farah has also found himself at the centre of a doping row amid allegations his coach Alberto Salazar administered testosterone to American distance runner Galen Rupp in 2002 when Rupp — a training partner of Farah — was only 16, and encouraged misuse of prescription drugs. There is no suggestion however that Farah has violated anti-doping rules, although he came under pressure after it emerged he missed two drug tests in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympics. Farah will again face a tough challenge from the east African powerhouses of Ethiopia and Kenya, the latter having finished fourth in the medals table at the 2013 Moscow worlds behind winners Russia, second-placed the United States and Jamaica in third, while Ethiopia were sixth behind Germany. Bolt makes his bow in the 100m heats on the opening day, when Farah will bid for an unprecedented six consecutive global track distance titles in the 10,000m. Since losing to Ibrahim Jeilan in the Daegu worlds in 2011, Farah has won five global track distance titles in a row. He rebounded to win the 5000m in Daegu, and followed up with 5000m-10,000m doubles at both the London 2012 Olympics and the 2013 world championships in Moscow. Should Farah triumph in the 10,000m in Beijing, he will have strung together an unprecedented six consecutive global track distance titles (with a chance to make it seven in the 5000m). One notable absentee from Saturday’s action, featuring three medal events, will be New Zealand’s four-time world champion Valerie Adams, who misses the women’s shot put after failing to regain her form sufficiently after complicated double surgery on her shoulder and elbow. In the big Kiwi’s absence, the world leader from Germany, Christina Schwanitz, is favorite, while home hopes lie on the shoulders of Olympic and two-time world bronze medalist Gong Lijiao. The opening event of the day will be the men’s marathon, which kicks off early in the morning in a bid to better avoid the hot, often smoggy conditions that envelop Beijing. All eyes will be on Stephen Kiprotich as the Ugandan goes after an unprecedented third consecutive global title after winning golds at the London Games and the Moscow worlds. The women’s heptathlon also gets under way, with British duo Jessica Ennis-Hall and Katarina Johnson-Thompson up against Canada’s reigning world silver medallist Brianne Theisen Eaton in the first four events of the gruelling two-day event: the 100m hurdles, high jump, shot put and 200m. There are also heats in the men’s 400m hurdles, hammer, 300m steeplechase and 800m, and the women’s 1500m, triple jump. — Agencies