The Gleaner's coverage of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin takes off today with features and inside information you'll find nowhere else.

Online: For those who love the Internet, The Gleaner online will also be streaming events live from the World Championships! Make sure you also take a look at our online photo gallery while you're at it.

Elton Tucker, Assistant Sports Editor

Berlin, Germany:

Jamaica's triple Olympic gold medallist Usain Bolt will be the main attraction when the 12th International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Championships in athletics opens today in the newly refurbished 1936 Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

More than 200 athletes from 205 countries are down to compete at the nine-day meet.

Successful athletes will be richly rewarded. The winners of individual events will receive a whopping US$60,000, second US$30,000 and third US$20,000. All finalists will collect financial rewards.

The top prize for relays is US$80,000, second US$40,000 and third US$20,000. Like the individual events, the other finalists will also be rewarded.

There is also a world-record bonus. Any athlete or relay team which breaks a world record will collect US$100,000 donated by IAAF's partners Toyota for women and TDK for men.

Bolt and his main rival

The first two rounds of the men's 100 metres will be run today with all eyes expected to focus on Bolt and his main rival, American Tyson Gay. Former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell has all the spotlight off him and will want to upset the two current top stars but after losing twice to Gay this season and with Bolt seemingly in a class of his own, he could be challenging, at best, for the bronze medal.

Bolt revealed on Thursday that he is itching to go and was looking forward to his expected showdown with Gay in tomorrow's final.

The world's fastest man will run today in his new custom-built sprint spike. The shoe was built exclusively to fit Bolt's feet. The gold plated orange coloured spike which was designed to contrast with the blue track of the Berlin Stadium is one of the world's lightest.

"I am in good shape, no problems and just itching to go," Bolt said on Thursday.

"The level of expectation (at home) is even higher than before Beijing but I am ready," said the man who clocked 9.69 seconds for the 100 metres and 19.30 over 200m to reap double individual gold at the Beijing Olympic Games before running the third leg on the relay team which clocked a world record 37.10 seconds.

Bolt has vowed to add World Championships gold to his Olympic medals.

" I have set a standard for myself, so I need to live up to it."

Bolt added that he was especially looking forward to the clash with Gay as the two had "not faced each other all season", and he was always being reminded about the fast times Gay has clocked.

Gay ready to run fast

The more reserved Gay, the defending champion in the 100m and 200m and the fastest man over both distances this season, said he is ready to run fast as a winning time slower than 9.69 seconds would not satisfy him.

"I do not want to run 9.99 and people say I did not run fast enough," Gay said, also on Thursday.

The first and second round of the men's 100 metres will be run today with the semi-finals and final tomorrow.

The first Jamaican sprinter to grace the track will be Michael Frater in heat one of the 100m at 4:40 a.m. (Ja time). Powell goes in heat two at 4:54 a.m. while Bolt will run in heat nine at 5:36 a.m. Gay will compete in heat 11 at 5:50 a.m.

The women's triple jump gives Jamaica's 2005 World Champion Trecia Smith a chance to reclaim some of her former glory after a series of injuries following her Helsinki success.

Also on the starting list is Jamaica's American college star Kimberly Williams, marking the first time that Jamaica will have two female jumpers in the event at the world level.

The three Jamaican women down for today's first round of the 400 metres are Novlene Williams-Mills, the 2007 bronze medallist; Olympic silver medallist Shericka Williams and new kid on the block, Christine Day. The event features the world's fastest women for 2009, Jamaican-born American star Sanya Richards with a year's best 49.23 and still seeking her first global title.

Danny McFarlane, the 2004 Olympic silver medallist; national champion Isa Phillips and another athlete new at the international senior level, Josef Robertson, will run in the men's 400m hurdles.

Meanwhile, the five athletes who were cleared of the adverse analytical findings by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission's disciplinary panel over the past week and a half - Yohan Blake, Allodin Fothergill, Sheri-Ann Brooks, Lansford Spence and Marvin Anderson - are unlikely to compete in Berlin. Anderson is injured and is definitely out.

Contacted last night, team manager Trevor Campbell said the other four are "not here". Campbell, who is suffering from a throat bug that has left him almost without his voice, said they have to be fully cleared before they can compete.