Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) President Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad (centre), flanked by Mohammed Al Kuwari, Secretary General, QAF, and Fahad Al Hajri, Media Director, QAF, during a press conference at Al Bidda Tower in Doha yesterday. RIGHT: Kenya’s David Rudisha reacts after winning the men’s 800m final during the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in this August, 2012 file photo. BELOW: The new logo of the Qatar Athletics Federation.
BY RIZWAN REHMAT
DOHA: Reigning world champion and Olympic Games gold medallist David Rudisha of Kenya will join Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake at the season-opener in Doha where the IAAF Samsung Diamond League kicks-off the new season on May 10.
Rudisha, who ran a world record time of 1:40.91 to win the 800m gold at the London Games last year, is the second biggest name after Blake to join the list of athletes for the Doha leg, Qatar Athletics Federation (QAF) President Dahlan Jumaan Al Hamad announced yesterday.
“It’s always nice to return to Doha,” Rudisha said in a statement released yesterday. “I have great memories from the Qatar Sports Club track where I have won three times so far,” the 24-year-old added.
“The spectators are always enthusiastic and push the athletes to their limits,” the two-time African champion said.
Rudisha was the first person to run under 1:41.00 for the event, and he holds the three fastest, six of the eight fastest, and half of the twenty fastest times ever run by a male in this event
“I do not run many races over the season and so it is important that every race is a quality race. I have beaten Kipketer’s former world record (1:41.11) three times now and one day I hope to break the 1:40 barrier. It’s not impossible but it is a very difficult task to accomplish” added Rudisha, who has run under 1:42 an astonishing seven times, a unique feat in the history of the two-lap distance.
“David Rudisha is looking forward to being here,” QAF President Al Hamad said yesterday. “We had promised to get big names. Last week Yohan Blake confirmed his entry and now we have the official word from David,” he added.
“Rudisha’s addition to the 2013 roster justifies our ambition to perpetually improve the Doha athletics meeting level and to showcase the on-site spectators and to the millions fans who will watch through their TV screens, a meeting to remember,” Al Dahlan said.
“Many more Olympic and world champions will soon sign up and boost the image of Doha 2013, the first Samsung Diamond League meet of the new season” said Al Hamad, who is also the IAAF Vice-President.
Rudisha said: “I have to stay focused and keep on training hard, because the level of the 800m competition is continuously rising. Many new athletes from my country, Kenya and other African nations have emerged and are rapidly lowering their records.”
He added: “I am sure the organisers will set up a competitive race. It is the first race of the season but that I am confident that I can produce a strong performance.”
Rudisha defied the odds and not only easily won the Olympic 800m final in London, but he also lowered his own world record by 0.10 seconds (1:40.91).
For his London heroics, the Male Athlete of the Year 2010, was honoured by the IAAF with the ‘Male Performance of the Year 2012’ award and is globally recognised worldwide as one of the top athletics icons.
The QAF president said the track and field fans in Qatar and the Middle East can be assured of a bumper field.
“We are really looking forward to welcoming Yohan in Doha and to see the reigning 100m World Champion competing at the Hamad Bin Suhaim Stadium,” he said last week.
“The fourth Samsung Diamond League season will commence once again in Doha and we are aiming to welcome a world class field. The conditions here are excellent and we are aware that athletes love to compete in Qatar,” he added.
Twenty-three-year-old Blake, who earned a 4x100m relay gold medal in a world record time at the London Olympic Games along with silvers in 100m and 200m, will become the ninth Jamaican to enter the 100m dash in Doha.
He will also get the chance to break the meet record of 9.84secs created in 2006 by Justin Gatlin of the US. Raymond Stewart (1997) and Asafa Powell (2010) are the other Jamaicans to have won the 100m races in Doha.
“This will be my first time in Qatar and I am looking forward to going to Doha, for my first Diamond League appearance on the Asian continent,” Blake said last week.
“I have heard about the fast track in Doha and I hope to break the meeting record. I always want to surprise the audience, everywhere I go,” the Jamican star said.
In the last couple of seasons Blake has ran faster than Fasuba’s current meeting record - seven times. Blake’s personal best is 9.69, a time that ranks him tied with Tyson Gay for second place in the 100m all-time lists.
He is equally fast in the 200m with a personal best of 19.26, the second fastest time in history, while in early February he even tried the 400m in a meeting in Kingston where he finished in 46.77.
“I am the second fastest man in the world at the moment. My ambition is to become the best. I have to continue working very hard for that. Anything is possible,” the Jamaican, popularly known as ‘The Beast’, said.
Mohamed Al Kuwari, Secretary General, QAF, said the hosts are promoting the event on social media Facebook and Twitter where fans can dig for info on the Doha participants and they could also find details on the one-day event. THE PENINSULA
