by Pirate Irwin
BRUSSELS, Aug 25 - Tatyana Lebedeva missed out on adding the long jump world title to her Olympic crown but here on Friday she will seek to move a step closer to securing the million dollar Golden League bonus - three other athletes who bear the world champion tag will look to break world records.
While 29-year-old Lebedeva had to pull out of the long jump final in Helsinki because of achilles problems she will quickly forget the potential loss of 60,000 dollars for winning the title should she win here in her other speciality, the triple jump, as she is the only athlete standing with just this meeting and Berlin on September 4.
It was frustrating missing out in Helsinki but I could not have competed to the best of my ability,'' admitted Lebedeva. Also if I had risked it I could have seen my season ended prematurely and I would have lost out on everything,’’ added Lebedeva, who bounced back from her Helsinki experience to win in Zurich and defeat newly-crowned triple jump champion Trecia Smith.
Her compatriot Yelena Isinbayeva could make it another memorable night for the stunning pole vaulter as she bids to improve on her world record of 5.01 metres set in the world championship final - the odds are if the weather remains clement that she will and receive a second successive rendition of the Russian national anthem as she did when she set a new mark here last year.
I have high hopes of adding to my world record mark as I feel as if I still have more in me,'' said the 23-year-old, who prior to Helsinki had set a new world record nine times this year. I felt tired after Helsinki but having gone back to Volgograd after the championships I feel well rested.’’
While the Russian stars try and light up the field events it will be down to two distance runners from Africa - though one now runs in the colours of Qatar - to break their own world records.
The remarkable Kenenisa Bekele having retained his 10,000m title in Helsinki will seek to improve his world record at the distance and judging by his brilliant performance in the 3000m at Zurich then he too could be going away a richer man.
``Brussels is one of my favourite tracks and given good weather conditions I feel I am in the sort of form that could see me break my record (26min 20.31sec set in Ostrava in June 2004),’’ said 23-year-old Bekele, who would follow in the footsteps of legends Emile Zatopek, Salah Hissou and Paul Tergat in breaking the record in Brussels.
Saif Saaeed Shaheen will return as the reanointed world champion and to the track where the Kenyan-born Qatari national set his 3000m steeplechase world record last year and his silky smooth style which has brooked no arguments this season with his rivals could well see him lower it further.
For once the sprinters may feel like second class citizens but for one a win here could end what must be described as not a Grand Tour of Europe but a damp squib of a trip.
Maurice Greene once the undisputed heavyweight champion of the sprints has seen his hopes of a medal in Helsinki fail at the first baton exchange in the 4x100m relay heat then to disqualification in Sheffield last Sunday and a humiliating eighth in Zurich.
Beating Justin Gatlin is a tall order but the ‘Kansas Comet’ needs to replicate something of that order that earned him his moniker if he is not to see more of his once fearsome reputation stripped bare.