Countdown
he King of Spain, Juan Carlos I, will officially inaugurate the new Olympic Stadium in Seville tomorrow evening together with the President of the IAAF, Dr Primo Nebiolo.
The stadium, which will host the 7th edition of the IAAF’s World Championships in Athletics on August 20-29, is the first designed specifically for this major event, and despite bad weather affecting the final preparations, the facility will be ready for the sporting activities of tomorrow night. Over 38,000 tickets have already been sold and over 40,000 are expected to attend.
Following the wish of Dr Primo Nebiolo to find ways of linking track and field athletics and football, a friendly match will be played tomorrow night (kick-off at 21:45) between the national teams of Spain and Croatia – who finished third in last year’s World Cup. Both teams are taking the match seriously – Spain are currently rebuilding an impressive young side while Croatia are keeping faith in stars like Davor Suker, the top scorer at the last World Cup who plays his club football with Real Madrid.
But before the match, athletics will hold centre stage with two races for men and women over the classic 1500 metres distance.
Not surprisingly, Spain’s best specialists were keen to christen the brand new track. In the men’s race, the favourite will probably the talented young European champion for the distance, Reyes Estevez. But he will be challenged by Isaac Viciosa, the European 5000 metres champion, and Andres Diaz, who broke the European indoor record for 1500 metres this winter and won a bronze at the World Indoor Championships in Maebashi. But the Spanish armada will have to fight off other world class talents like William Tanui, the 1992 Olympic 800 metres champion, steeplechase star John Kosgei (both Kenyans), and the Briton John Mayock, who memorably beat the best Spaniards in Valencia last year to win the European indoor 3000 metres title.
Among the women, the stars include the reigning World Champion at 1500 metres Carla Sacramento of Portugal and Kutre Dulecha, the Ethiopian who is the World Junior champion at the event.
Kenya’s Faith Macharia is also in the field as are Spain’s best representatives. They are headed by Mayte Zuñiga, Spanish record holder at 800 metres and 1500 metres, and Rocio Rodriguez, who broke the national indoor record this winter.
The women’s race starts at 21:08 while the men will be in action at 21:15.
