By Audley Boyd , Assistant Sport EditorFROM AS far as Mozambique in Africa to little St. Kitts/Nevis, a superstar cast of Olympic and world champion athletes has been confirmed to fly in for the first Jamaica International Invitational.
The track and field meet is slated for the National Stadium on Friday, May 7 and Donald Quarrie, the man responsible for getting the athletes, reeled off a spectacular line up at the event's launch at the Pegasus Hotel yesterday morning.
Sprint champions Marion Jones of the United States and Kim Collins from St. Kitts, along with middle distance queen Maria Mutola and untested hometown sensation Usain Bolt, were numbered among a glittering cast for the event.
And don't forget Gail Devers, that legendary sprint hurdling diva and Felix Sanchez, the Dominican Republic star who outlasted the field to win the 400m hurdles gold at the last World Champs.
SWELL EXPECTATIONS
That 400 hurdles field included Jamaicans Kemel Thompson, who was highly touted, and Danny McFarlane, then a virtual novice to quarter-mile hurdling. Thompson was not listed for next month's event but the ever-improving McFarlane, along with established Dinsdale Morgan and Ian Weakly, will be competing.
They are not the only ones who will swell the expectations of hometown fans as a host of other Jamaicans with top world ratings are down to perform in what is officially a warm-up for Athens' Summer Olympic Games.
They include Olympic and World Championships long jump medallist James Beckford, a consistent top-three finisher at all major meets, 400m stars Davian Clarke and Greg Haughton, and Juliet Campbell and Lorraine Fenton who head the female contingent.
Campbell, who will run alongside Bahamian Debbie Ferguson, Caymanian Cydonie Mothersill and Jamaican veteran Bev McDonald, told The Gleaner that Jamaica "deserves" to host such an event.
She said: "A country of our calibre deserves a world-class competition on our own soil and we congratulate all the people involved in making this event happen.
"We are certain to see exciting results on the National Stadium's fast track and prove that this is just the beginning of world-class meets in Jamaica."
Fenton lines up against compatriots representing different generations Sandie Richards and uprising Ronetta Smith, as well as the US's Jearl Miles-Clarke.
"Jamaica has such a great tradition in athletics, especially in the Caribbean, it is only fair that we should host an event like this," said Quarrie.
"We not only want to be leaders on the track, but in organising events as well," stated Quarrie, a legend of the sport here who won the 200m gold at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
If their success at getting the big athletes for this meet is anything to go by, then they are certainly on track as they beat off a challenge from Japanese organisers to get most of the big name athletes for this meet, which will be run a day before the one in Japan.
"This being an Olympic year, I believe the Jamaica meet is coming at a prime time for the athletes to see where they're at in their preparation. Most of the athletes don't want to be travelling too far and a lot of them want to come to Jamaica," explained Quarrie, who used Mutola to back his case.
Mutola has made the 800m her own success story for years now and recently added the recent Common-wealth Games title to her golden showcase. Australian Debbie Savage, Irishwoman Roisin McGettian and the US's Hazel Clarke will also run in that field, with improving Mardrea Hyman and Michelle Ballentine carrying local hopes.
In the main address, Sports Minister Portia Simpson Miller pointed out that "Jamaica has a proud history of staging excellent track and field events. It is against this background that we now have organised another premium meet.
"Let us fill the National Stadium to its capacity and show the world what we are worth," she concluded.
The United States' Marion Jones, a multiple Olympic and World Championships gold medallist who was largely absent from the track last season because she had a child, will be competing in two events, the 100 metres and long jump.
Among the runners against whom Jones will match stride in the athletic showpiece event are Jamaica's Olympic bronze medallist Tayna Lawrence, who was bothered by injury last season, and her countrywomen Aleen Bailey, Sherone Simpson and Peta-Gaye Dowdie, a one-time national champion who is also on the comeback trail.
The little-big man from St. Kitts/Nevis who breezed to a golden finish at the World Champs in France last year, Collins, will be competing in his pet 100 and 200-metre events.
His participation in the 200m sets up a highly anticipated clash with Jamaica's World Junior 200m champion and joint record holder, Bolt.
