Berlin31 August 1998As the sun struggles to break through the light clouds covering the German capital, there is an almost tangible air of excitement surrounding the Radisson SAS hotel. it is here that the athletes participating in this, the penultimate leg of the race towards the IAAF Ericsson Golden League Jackpot, are staying. After 5 stages, there still remain four athletes in the running for the million dollars: Marion Jones (USA) - 100M. Bryan Bronson (USA) - 400m hurdles; Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) - 1500m and Haile Gebrselasie (ETH) - 3000m (or 5000/10,000m, as all three may be designated as Golden League events this year).
Tomorrow evening will be decisive, as the four compete in the historic Berlin Olympic Stadium to go through to the Golden League Grand Prix Final, which will take place in Moscow on Saturday 5 September.
Gebrselassie seemed completely relaxed last night as he sat in the athletes' lounge and watched a rerun on video of his 5000m race here last year. On that occasion, he had just suffered the indignity of seeing his 10,000m and 5000m world record marks demolished in Brussels by Kenyans Paul Tergat and Daniel Komen. Gebrselassie seemed tired at the end of a long, gruelling season, but still managed his characteristic smile as he said "that is life - we will see next year". See he did and has since reclaimed both records - though he has so far not managed to wipe Komen's 3000m record off the books. This year, the "Emperor" is on splendid form and looks near invincible in the as he prepares to take another leap towards the crock of gold at the end of the Golden League rainbow. Tomorrow, he will be competing against Paul Tergat and Luke Kipkosgei of Kenya and his own compatriot Assefa Mezegebu, they are the only three of the field to have gone under 13 minutes in the 5000m this year and Haile can give all of them better than 15 seconds on his world record time of 12:39.36. Local favourite Dieter Baumann may well be spurred on by the expected 50,000 spectators in the Olympic Stadium, but does not seem likely to represent a major threat to the wiry Gebrselassie.
Marion Jones has been invincible so far this year and has had a season that would daunt the majority of athletes: competing some 35 times (100m, 200m and long jump) undefeated and leaving behind her the comparisons with Carl Lewis: Jones is now a confirmed star in her own right. The much-vaunted challenge of France's Christine Arron never really happened. In Brussels on Friday, Jones beat the French athlete soundly, as she had on the other two occasions these first ladies of sprint had met. Arron has a way to go yet before she can hope to challenge Miss Jones.However, Russia's Irina Privalova, the veteran of this race in Berlin at the ripe old age of 30, may yet have a surprise or two in her legs, as may Zhanna Pintusevich (UKR). On paper they look to be way behind with 1998 best performances of 10.83 and 10.92, respectively, but athletics is a fickle mistress, and no race is won until the finishing line is crossed.
Hicham El Guerrouj will find his strongest competition coming from Kenyans John Kibowen, Laban Rotich and Daniel Komen, even if Komen has generally been unimpressive over the distance so far this year. The three Kenyans will be flanked in their efforts to dash El Guerrouj's Jackpot hopes by Spanish stalwarts Isaac Viciosa and Fermin Cacho. However, of the field, only rotich has come anywhere close to El Guerrouj's world record mark of 3:26.00 from the second meeting of the Golden League, Rome's Golden Gala in July.
Bryan Bronson has been completely dominant in the 400m hurdles through all of the Golden League series so far and has managed to hold off the challenge of Russia's Ruslan Maschenko, who is the most convincing of the challengers in tomorrow's race. Dark horses in the event: Samuel Matete (ZIM), who looks unlikely to be able to make much of an impression on Bronson's current excellent form; Stéphane Diagana (FRA), who failed to finish in the European Finals in Budapest after catching his trail leg on a hurdle, but is capable of surprising performances when the conditions are right and, finally, Dinsdale Morgan of Jamaica. Morgan has performed strongly all season, never far behind Bronson and could well put up a strong challenge in Berlin. Maschenko may well concentrate all his efforts on a win in front of a home crowd in Moscow.
Results on-line and reports and photos shortly after the event on www.iaaf.org.
