Bailey & Greene: a golden standoff
Athletics enthusiasts will be able to look
forward to an excitement filled season this year. With the
announcement of the IAAF's Golden League of major Grand Prix
meets, they will be treated to a limited series of six meets -
Berlin, Brussels, Monaco, Oslo, Rome and Zurich and the grand
climax of the Grand Prix and Golden League Final in Moscow on 5
September, with a million dollar jackpot to be shared between
athletes successfully contesting their events in each of the
meetings and the Final.
We can expect to see at least two individual contest throughout
the Golden League series, with the record chasing - and beating -
duo of Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) and Daniel Komen (KEN) continuing
their rivalry and the battle for supremacy in the blue riband
100m event between Canada's Donovan Bailey and America's Maurice
Greene. Bailey has owned the world 100m record of 9.84 since the
Atlanta Olympics, and Greene is determined to make the mark his.
Since taking possession of André Casson's 60m indoor record in
Madrid on 3 February, Greene has declared that he will not be
happy until he has made athletics' most coveted record his own.
Buoyed up by his victory in the World Championships in Athens
last August and by his defeat of Bailey in the inaugural IAAF
Grand Prix II meet of the year, in Melbourne on 25 February,
23-year old Greene has said that the Canadian's record could fall
at any time. Strangely enough, Bailey is not totally in agreement
with this theory: "My intention is to go out and do what I
do and stay number one. That's what my plans are", he said
in a telephone conference on Monday. Asked about Greene's
prediction that he will lower the 100m mark this season, Bailey
said: "All that I have to do is stay healthy to break the
world record." (He didn't compete against Greene in Sydney
last Saturday after suffering from a bruised heel in the
Melbourne Grand Prix).
"You can never know when you're going to break the record.
Maybe Maurice knows something that no other sprinter knows."
Only time will tell which of the two is right, but there is sure
to be some exciting competition in the million dollar Golden
League.