OLYMPIC champion Rashid Ramzi is set to lead five of Bahrain's Beijing Olympians in the Weltklasse Zurich Golden League meeting on Friday at the Letzigrund Stadium in Switzerland, reports PATRICK SALOMON.
According to the event's official start lists, Ramzi, world champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal, and compatriots Youssef Saad Kamel, Tareq Mubarak Taher and Belal Mansoor Ali will be competing.
Ramzi, Kamel and Belal will each be running in the men's 1,500 metres, while Tareq will be taking to the track in the men's 3,000m steeplechase and Maryam in the women's 800m.
Ramzi, a former world champion in the 1,500m and now Bahrain's first-ever Olympic medallist, will be the heavy favourite in a high-quality race. The event also includes top athletes Kenyans Alfred Kirwa Yego, Daniel Kipchirchir Komen, and Nicholas Kemboi, Moroccan Abdalaati Iguider, and Spaniards Arturo Casado and Juan Carlos Higuero.
In the steeplechase, Tareq will be up against several of the world's leading athletes in the event, including Kenyan Paul Kipsiele Koech, who owns the season's best time to date. Also in the race are Koech's countrymen Ezekiel Kemboi, Richard Kipkemboi Mateelong, Swede Mustafa Mohamed, and Moroccan Brahim Taleb.
On the distaff, Maryam will be going up against some stiff competition from Kenya's Olympic champions Pamela Jelimo and Nancy Langat. Jelimo won the 800m gold in Beijing, while Langat defeated Maryam for the 1,500m Beijing title.
Ramzi, Kamel and Belal will be the first to compete among the Bahrainis.
Their race is scheduled to get underway at 9.05pm, Bahrain time. The steeplechase will then take place at 9.25pm, followed by the women's 800m at 9.45pm.
Elsewhere in the Zurich meeting, Olympics winners and world record holders Usain Bolt of Jamaica, Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia, and Dayron Robles of Cuba are also set to make appearances. Also on the programme are Americans Jeremy Wariner, Lashawn Merritt, Allyson Felix and Sanya Richards.
The meeting is part of the International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics Tour. Athletes earn points on the tour in order to qualify for the World Athletics Final, which will be held in Stuttgart, Germany, next month.
