The world championships in a rain-swept Helsinki marked a year during which a new generation of athletes usurped the older guard.
The youngsters are best personified by the likeable trio of American sprinter Justin Gatlin, Ethiopian runner Kenenisa Bekele and Russian polevaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, the latter two voted 2005 athletes of the year by the world athletics governing body,
the IAAF, for the second year running.
It was a stellar year for Gatlin, who followed up on his Olympic 100m gold in Athens with a two-medal haul in the World Championships in a rain-swept Helsinki.
In the absence of world record holder Asafa Powell through injury, Gatlin destroyed his rivals in the 100m and 200m, and would surely have emulated fading American sprint legend Maurice Greene had the US team not dropped the baton in the heats of the 4x100m relay.
”Double gold means I’m king of the sprints. It shows I’m the best sprinter around,” said Gatlin.
Ethiopian running phenomenon Bekele rebounded from the death earlier this year of his fiancee Alem Techale from a suspected heart attack to retain his 10 000m title in Helsinki.
The 23-year-old, also the Olympic 10 000m champion and four-time double world cross country champion, then broke his own 10km world record by more than two seconds in the Golden League meet in Brussels.
While the self-effacing Bekele admitted he had not attempted the 10/5 000m double in Helsinki because her death had affected him, leaving him fatigued, he said the record in Brussels had helped in the grieving process.
”I cannot say this has been a good year, for obvious reasons, because of Alem’s death as there is a huge gap in my life and has been since that day in January,” he said.
”However I can say that the world record goes some way to wiping away the memories of that dreadful tragedy,” said Bekele, who also owns an Olympic silver medal and a world bronze medal in the 5 000m.
Bekele’s counterpart Tirunesh Dibaba (19) also set the women’s distance running alight, becoming the first woman to achieve the 5 000m and 10 000m double.
”I’m very happy to make history,” said Dibaba. ”I’m planning to do that again next time.”
Another athlete to have let her performances do the talking was Isinbayeva, who won the world title with a world record vault of 5,01m.
The 23-year-old broke her own world record nine times this year, and she looks so far ahead of her competitors that her dominance seems set to last for a long while to come.
Isinbayeva, whose good looks and lissom figure have guaranteed her a place as a pin-up in the athletics world, remains modest about her achievements, which garnered praise from no higher a source than Ukrainian pole vault legend Sergei Bubka, who still holds the men’s record of 6,14m.
”Over five metres is a very serious height in vaulting. But she can jump higher,” said Bubka, whose 35 world records is being chased by the Russian phenomenon.
”She’s a real star and is bringing a lot of success to athletics. She’s still young and will grow and gain in experience. She already has great confidence and great motivation.”
But Bubka also had a dig at her rivals.
”She has showed the way, the technique. The others need to learn from her and improve to increase the competition.”
Elsewhere, there were other Americans to take up Gatlin’s rallying cry in Helsinki 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, who produced a terrific display to replace an ailing Felix Sanchez as king of the 400m hurdles.
”Old stars fade, new stars light up the sky” was how veteran US 110m hurdler Allen Johnson assessed the state of play before the championships.
The four-time 34-year-old world champion wasn’t far wrong as he only managed to take bronze behind two 22-year-olds in Ladji Doucoure of France and China’s Olympic champion Liu Xiang.
Others were not even lucky enough to come away with a medal.
The evergreen Maria Mutola finished fourth in the 800m and 38-year-old Lars Riedel made the discus final but no impression after that.
One note of redemption was struck by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, however, who bounced back from the disappointment of failing to finish the marathon and 10 000m in Athens to record an impressive win in the endurance event in Helsinki.
”This is really for me. Anyone can think what they want. I knew I was capable of doing it,” said a defiant Radcliffe, who was demonised by some British newspapers after the Olympics disaster.
Russian triple jumper Tatyana Lebedeva, two-time triple jump world champion and long jump Olympic queen, earned the biggest payday in athletics after becoming the only athlete to record six wins in the six Golden League meetings.
The 29-year-old, who spurned the chance to compete for her country in Finland, scooped a cool one million dollars after victories in Paris, Rome, Oslo, Zurich, Berlin and Brussels.
”I think I made a good decision to save my energy and not jump in Helsinki.
”Now I do not need to worry about my family, my daughter or our future.” – Sapa-AFP