Zagreb, Croatia – Olympic 200m champion Veronica Campbell-Brown leads a list of half a dozen Olympic champions confirmed for the Zagreb Grand Prix set for Tuesday, 9 September.

The annual fixture in the Croatian capital is this year the last meeting in which points can be earned towards qualification for the IAAF/VTB Bank World Athletics Final in Stuttgart next weekend.

Campbell-Brown joined rare company in Beijing late last month when she successfully defended her Olympic 200m crown with a world-leading and career best 21.74 performance. The Jamaican became the first women in 28 years to win back-to-back Olympic half lap titles. In her first appearance since, Campbell-Brown will contest the 100m, the event in which she reigns as World champion.

The sprint hurdles have long been a strong tradition in Zagreb, a legacy which will be added to 2008. Organizers have lured both reigning Olympic champions, Cuba’s Dayron Robles and Dawn Harper of the U.S, to lead their respective fields in the 110 and 100m Hurdles. Harper will face Beijing bronze medallist Priscilla Lopes Schliep and Lausanne winner Delloreen Ennis London.

On day three of competition in the Bird’s Nest Primož Kozmus triumphed in the Hammer Throw to claim Slovenia’s first-ever athletics Olympic gold. The 28-year-old will make a quick hop across the border to lead the field in the event. He’ll be joined by his female counterpart, Aksana Miankova of Belarus, the women’s Olympic champion. She’ll face Croatian record holder Ivana Brkljacic who’ll be eager to defend home turf after her Beijing disappointment where she failed to reach the final. World champion Betty Heidler of Germany has also been announced.

Local attention will of course be focused on Croatia’s biggest athletics star, world champion and Olympic silver medallist Blanka Vlasic who this weekend in Brussels will conclude her chase for a share of the $1 million AF Golden League Jackpot.

In Zagreb, American Stephanie Brown Trafton will be introduced, for the first time, as the Olympic gold medallist in the discus throw. The 29-year-old produced one of the biggest surprises in the Games when she took the first gold medal for team USA.

Bob Ramsak for the IAAF