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BoltJoel Campbell, Voice Writer
THE 200m at the World Champion-ships in Osaka is promising to be one of the biggest events in Usain Bolt's athletics career.
Track and field enthusiasts around the world have already pretty much decided who will be in the one, two, three positions with America's Tyson Gay and Wallace Spearmon heavily fancied to feature.
Both athletes have run amazingly quick times this season and have looked fairly consistent going into World Champion-ships. Hoping to break up the party, however, is 21 year-old Jamaican Usain Bolt.
Having set a new personal best time and national record of 19.75 seconds earlier this year at the national championships, eclipsing the previous record which was set by the famous Don Quarrie, Bolt is in fine shape to upset the American applecart come Osaka.
Talking to the Voice of Sport, he enthused about his chances of bringing home the gold medal in the 200m.
He said: "It's going to take a lot of training and hard work to winthe gold.
"Hopefully, the conditions will be hot in Osaka. I guess it will take a lot of hard work just to get through the rounds and I'll have to have a lot of strength come the final."
Good and bad days
"It's definitely about Tyson or Spearmon. Everybody has good and bad days and I can't call one over the other, I'm just looking forward to running against the two of them in Osaka."
Bolt wouldn't be drawn on just how fast the 200m will be won in. Crazy times are being predicted for this years World Championships. A combination of the conditions and a super fast track have added to speculation that world records, on the track at least, will tumble.
One advantage Bolt will have over Gay is the fact the American will be competing in both the 100 and 200m. Knowing that he will be going into the 200m fresher than his fellow competitor is a comforting thought but not one Bolt is allowing to sway his focus.
He said: "Hopefully, it will be an advantage to me but the 100m is the 100m, it's easy and plus they get a day's rest to get back for the 200m so you never know how he (Gay) will go.
"All I know is that if I win the gold medal it will be great. I think it will be like the World Juniors when I actually won in Jamaica, I think that would be great.
"It would be crazy if I won the gold. Jamaican's love to win so it would be a great accomplishment for us."
Spearmon admitted that the pain of coming home from the last World Championships with the silver medal drives him on. He yearns for the gold and doesn't mind telling anyone who will listen that finishing first in Osaka is all he wants.
He said: "I want the gold; I want two gold's if I can. Last time I got silver so this time I want the gold.
"We live for this. I always want to try my best along with Tyson, and Usain is right up there with us. Xavier Carter and Walter Dix couldn't be there this year, but next year they will be right there.
"To win the gold in Osaka I am going to have to finish as strong as I normally do but get out of theblocks like Tyson. If I do that, I should be the guaranteed winner but we'll see if I do that or not.
Spearmon continued: "Can the world record go? Anything is possible. I'm not going to say no, you will never hear me say no. I believe whoever wins that race will probably run a personal best time. 19.50, 19.40, 19.30, 19.20, anything is possible."
Chomping at the bit
Spearmon says Gay has the target on his back and is the scalp everyone would love to claim. Happy as he is to let his training partner dominate the limelight, he hopes it all changes come Osaka. Gay, however, is chomping at the bit to get to Japan and fulfil his potential.
He said: "I'm looking forward to racing Asafa Powell and the rest of the world. I'm ready and getting used to running with the target on my back but right now I still haven't received any medals or broken any records, so I am still just another fast guy like some of the other fast guys, so I am looking forward to bigger things."
- Reprinted from The Voice, a subsidiary of The Gleaner Company Ltd.
Performers of the opening ceremony cool down under a water sprayer at the stadium in Osaka, Japan, yesterday. The same equipment will be used to cool the athletes.
Water mist sprays to cool down athletesOSAKA, Japan (Reuters):
Athletes will be able to douse themselves in cooling water mist sprays to beat Osaka's fierce heat during the World Championships.
The competition began with the men's marathon race on Saturday (last night Caribbean time) and temperatures are forecast to continue hovering above the 35 degrees Celsius mark for the following week.
"It's the first time these mist sprays will be in use at a World Championships," Yasuhiro Uchiyama, chief public relations manager for Osaka's organising committee, said yesterday.
"There will be dry mist sprays in the stadium to help athletes cool down and shower mist sprays along the marathon course - both firsts for a World Championships."
Track finals will take place in the relative cool of the evening but preliminary heats, while starting early, could prove brutal towards the end of the morning sessions.
"The finals take place when the sun's gone down and there should be some breeze for the athletes in the evening sessions," said Uchiyama.
"The heats begin at 0800 or 0900. The marathon starts at 0700. They'll avoid the worst of the heat and won't be running at the hottest time of day but you always worry about heat stroke."
With humidity in Osaka around 60 per cent, organisers are taking no chances and will have emergency medical teams standing by in and outside the stadium.
"We have looked carefully at scheduling to protect the athletes, particularly the long-distance runners, but we will have first-aid stations on the spot," Uchiyama said.
"In an emergency we can get an ambulance on to the track immediately via the marathon gate. We have given the heat issue a lot of thought and taken all the measures we can."
