”Old stars fade, new stars light up the sky,” was how 110m hurdler Allen Johnson assessed athletics ahead of the world championships, and he couldn’t have been more correct.
The 34-year-old was to be an eyewitness as he took bronze and not the fifth title he so desperately wanted behind two 22-year-olds in Ladji Doucoure of France and China’s Olympic champion Liu Xiang.
A year after the Olympics can be a transitional time for any sport, but if these championships were anything to go by, then the old guard has been stood down for the new kids on the block.
While Johnson did at least come away with a medal, others of the golden generation discovered that the sands of time are running out.
The evergreen Maria Mutola finished fourth in the 800m and 38-year-old Lars Riedel made the discus final but no impression after that.
Instead it was the youngsters, led by American sprint king Justin Gatlin, who dominated.
While the 23-year-old Gatlin already had an Olympic crown in his locker, he still had to come to Helsinki and show that, in the absence of world-record-holder Asafa Powell, he had what it took to replace Maurice Greene as the dominant world sprinter.
And the young American didn’t disappoint as he destroyed his rivals in the 100m and 200m.
”Double gold means I’m king of the sprints. It shows I’m the best sprinter around,” said Gatlin, who would probably have emulated Greene in 1999 and won three titles had not the United States dropped the baton in the heats of the 4100m relay.
There were other Americans to take up Gatlin’s rallying cry in the form of 21-year-olds Lauryn Williams winning the 100m and 4x100m relay, and Jeremy Wariner in the men’s 400m.
They were supported by 19-year-old Tianna Madison, who secured the long-jump title in her first major final, and 22-year-old Bershawn Jackson.
The hurdler, just three years out of high school, produced a terrific display to replace an ailing Felix Sanchez as king of the 400m hurdles.
However, the difference between this American generation and the one that preceded it is that trash talking has been replaced by respect.
”I want to be like Edwin Moses,” said Jackson, who was greeted by the great man after his victory.
”That’s the first time I’ve ever met him. That’s the man I want to be,” added Jackson, who always wears a headband inscribed with ”Richard Jackson RIP”, in honour of his late uncle who inspired him to take up the sport.
America didn’t have it all their own way.
Russia’s 23-year-old Yelena Isinbayeva garnered $160 000 as she easily won the pole vault, setting her ninth world record of the year at 5,01m.
”She’s still young and will grow and gain in experience,” said Ukrainian vaulting legend Sergei Bubka, whose mark of 35 world records is one of Isinbayeva’s goals.
The Russian is a veteran compared with the 19-year-old Tirunesh Dibaba, but the Ethiopian became the first woman to achieve the 5 000m and 10 000m double and an Ethiopian medals clean-sweep in both races.
”I’m very happy to make history,” said Dibaba. ”I’m planning to do that again next time.”
Don’t bet against that happening as she and her teammates expose the dearth of talent emanating from bitter rivals Kenya.
Sadly for the Kenyans, their woes don’t stop there as the drain on their talent by the Gulf nations saw the peerless 23-year-old former Kenyan native Saif Saaeed Shaheen retain his steeplechase title with ease over two of their athletes.
The new rules to be brought in dictating that athletes can only perform for their new ”country” three years after gaining a passport may help Kenya, but it looks as if their problems run deeper.
If there was to be a symbolic moment of the championships, it was the airbrushing from the event’s history of former glamour girl Marion Jones.
Despite never testing positive for drugs, the 29-year-old triple Olympic champion and four-time world gold medallist was omitted from the video highlights of the three championships in which she appeared at the opening ceremony.
That was a sure sign that the baton had been firmly handed over to the new clean-cut generation and, unlike the US men’s relay team, they did not drop it. — Sapa-AFP