by M. Nicole Nazzaro A world track and field championships often feels like a three-ring circus that goes on for nine days – one that can turn into a soap opera on a dime depending on the scandal of the day. Especially in the early sessions with multiple elimination rounds, there’s so much going on at any moment in the main stadium that it’s hard to know where to look (spectators’ hint: when all else fails, follow the cheering fans). Check out the IAAF and USATF websites to see the full schedule of events. Here’s our take on stories to watch over the next week and a half:
Doping scandals: Can Team USA live down Tyson Gay’s positive test? If the shoe wasn’t on the other foot already after Marion Jones and Team BALCO, it certainly is today, after Tyson Gay – a role model for clean sport – turned up dirty earlier this year. Explanations aside, it hurts everyone when one of the sport’s most visible champions earns a drug suspension. The American team here will do well to keep their focus on the competition at hand, and every athlete should take the fistful of drug positives that turned up this year as a warning: compete dirty, and you’ll eventually get caught.
World’s best athlete redux?: American Ashton Eaton is the defending Olympic gold medalist and world record holder. The grueling two-day decathlon promises to be a challenge for the entire field – the forecast calls for hot sun both days – and Eaton has been nursing injuries, so it remains to be seen whether the world’s greatest athlete can bring home back to back Olympic and world titles.
Jenn Suhr vs. Yelena Isinbayeva: two world record holders, one gold medal. 2012 Olympic gold medalist Suhr feels like the favorite in this battle of world indoor and outdoor record holders – her 5.01m indoor vault earlier this year broke Isinbayeva’s record, and Isinbayeva’s still-safe 5.06m outdoor record was set back in 2009. But this is Russia, where Isinbayeva has ruled the vault for much of the last decade. The crowds could propel her to the win, but she’ll have to get through a surging Suhr to do it.
The crowds: does Russia heart athletics? Track and field crowds can be raucous (Paris, 2003), raucous when the country’s favorite athletes are competing (Helsinki, 2005) and simply polite (Osaka, 2007). Will Muscovites take to the sport the way western Europeans do, or will there be empty seats in the stands? more
