Bolt, Farah bid farewell
> Jamaican champion wants to go out ‘unbeatable’, Briton bids final double golden fanfare as Van Niekerk seeks to be the heir?
JAMAICAN sprint superstar Usain Bolt and British distance running icon Mo Farah end their glittering careers on the track at the world athletics championships starting today – and Wayde Van Niekerk could underline that he is the legitimate heir.
The championships starting today and ending next Saturday, comes five years after the athletics world gathered in the Olympic Stadium for the first time as the showcase sport of the 2012 Games.
Bolt won another 100m/200m/ 4x100m treble and Farah got his first of now five straight big-event 5,000m/10,000m on the occasion in front of big and enthusiastic crowds which set a new standard for the sport.
Now the two want to go out in style – with Bolt set to retire while Farah will concentrate on the marathon from next year onwards.
Bolt, who turns 31 shortly after the championships, will only be competing in the 100m and relay.
As in the past two years, he is yet to run really fast but has delivered when it mattered for an overall haul of eight Olympic golds and 11 world titles.
“I am still the fastest, without a doubt. If I show up at championships I am confident in my abilities,” Bolt told a packed news conference.
Asked what headlines he wants to read on Sunday after his last big individual race, he said: “’Usain Bolt retires unbeaten’ – that would hopefully be the biggest headline … ‘Unbeatable, unstoppable Usain Bolt.’”
Bolt ran a season-best 9.95 seconds in Monaco, still 13-hundredths of a second shy of the season-best from American Christian Coleman but a confidence-booster.
Bolt will delight the fans with his usual pre- and post-race antics, and Farah also aims to produce his handsto-head Mobot gesture two more times in front of a home crowd.
“I cannot wait for the championships. The preparation is going well, I am ticking all the boxes,” Farah said in June after winning a Diamond League 3,000m race in the Olympic Stadium.
Bolt is among those who believe that Van Niekerk can fill the void in the future – after the South African sensationally won 400m Olympic gold in world record time last year and in London aims for a rare 200m/400m double last achieved by American great Michael Johnson.
“Wayde is doing a pretty good job. He is funny. Now he is doing the 200m. He wants to be a big athlete but he has to open up,” Bolt said.
Other stars include fellow South African 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya, Jamaican double Olympic sprint champion Elaine Thompson and American 400m holder Allyson Felix.
In all, 2,034 athletes from more than 200 countries are entered for the 48 events, with gender equality reached when the women have a first-ever 50km race walk on the closing day.
While the Russian federation remains banned in connection with doping allegations, 19 Russian athletes including title holders Sergey Shubenkov (110m hurdles) and Mariya Lasitskene (high jump) have been given the green light by ruling body IAAF to compete as neutral athletes.
Athletics’ new and independent Integrity Unit will be responsible for a “robust” anti-doping test programme in London, with more than 600 blood samples collected before the championships and 600 urine tests planned during the 10-day event – following out-of-competition tests over a 10-month period with around 2,000 blood and 3,000 urine tests.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe remained cautious yesterday when it comes to a clean event.
“Will it stop people from cheating? No, that’s not the real world,” he said. “What we really do need to communicate is that we are always in the corner of the clean athletes and that cheating will not be tolerated.”
Coe, a two-time 800m Olympic champion and 2012 Olympics chief organiser, has named the championships “close to my heart” and expects “an incredible event.”
Many recall the “Super Saturday” from five years ago in which Farah, now retired heptathlete Jessica EnnisHill and long jumper Greg Rutherford won three golds for Britain within just over an hour, and interest is huge, with around 1 million applications made for the 700,000 tickets on offer.
Ennis-Hill has retired and Rutherford is injured but the home team hopes to deliver again in a programme where morning sessions with heats have been all but scrapped and only take place on four of the 10 competition days, mainly to accommodate the multi-events heptathlon and decathlon.
Evening sessions have also been tightened in order to make the sport more attractive for a younger audience.
Those who don’t get tickets for the stadium can have a unique experience in the city where the two marathons take place on the first Sunday on 10km loops with start and finish at iconic Tower Bridge; or watch all race walks at The Mall on the final day. – dpa