From Doha to Saransk, we're up and walking

ATHLETICS:FOR SOME of us, the lighting of the flame in that sweet little theatrical ceremony in ancient Olympia was the surest sign yet. Who cares if the Nazis actually devised this tradition of a torch relay?

For some of us it was the mad panic trying to find that little red button on our palm-sized TV remote control. Who on earth actually designs these ridiculous contraptions?

Either way, only 76 days to go, and not long at all now until I’m trying to pawn off my press ticket to the opening ceremony. Indeed time, at last, for less talk and more action – and if last night’s Diamond League opener in Doha was anything to go by then London shouldn’t have any problem living up to the hype.

Normally, these early season track meetings are a series of minor cameos: Doha boasted an all-star cast worthy of an athletics blockbuster. That’s what happens in Olympic year. So thank God for the BBC and their little red button, which for those of us who could find it, provided the first live reminder that yes London is calling, the headline acts are coming to town, and they mean business. No more playing around.

I’m still not entirely convinced by the 14-stop Diamond League format – a sort of global expansion of the old IAAF Grand Prix, with a lot more money, but maybe less status, at least as far as the TV commissioners are concerned. After Doha there’s still Shanghai, Rome, Eugene, Oslo, New York, Paris, London and Monaco, all coming before the Olympics, and then Stockholm, Lausanne, Birmingham, Zurich and Brussels, all coming after. But you won’t see any of them on RTÉ, or indeed whatever else is left of the so-called terrestrial stations.

RTÉ have, however, now signed up for the European Championships in Helsinki, at the end of June, which may well provide the best Irish athletics highlights of the summer anyway. Each of the last four days, from Thursday June 28th to the Sunday, July 1st, will be broadcast live. It’s still unclear just how many of our headline acts will actually be there, although if they are going to sneak any medals on the track this summer, chances are they’ll be in Helsinki, not in London.

At least that’s my feeling, after watching Doha, the competition on the track already red hot, not just because it was a typically balmy night in Qatar. I counted at least a dozen reigning Olympic champions in the thick of the Doha action, some actually going head-to-head with each other in rare display of boldly authentic competition: athletes like Kenenisa Bekele, Asbel Kiprop, LaShawn Merritt, Angelo Taylor, Brimin Kipruto, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Meseret Defar, Pamela Jelimo, and Barbora Spotakova – all of whom have Olympic gold medals, and shouldn’t require any further introduction.

Others too, like David Rudisha, Abubaker Kaki, Silas Kiplagat, Asafa Powell, Janeth Jepkosgei, Vivian Cheruiyot and Allsyon Felix – all of whom have very definite ambitions of striking gold in London. Special mention too must go to Justin Gatlin, the American sprinter who was back in Doha last night six years after equalling the then world 100 metre record of 9.77 seconds. Unfortunately for Gatlin, he was loaded with illegal levels of testosterone, and two months later, was banned for four years – after what was actually his second drugs offence. Some sports may forgive but will never forget.

It’s unfortunate too there wasn’t any Irish interest in Doha, and even with 17 athletes already safely qualified for London, some of them will want to start competing sooner rather than later. David Gillick, where art thou?

That’s not saying this weekend doesn’t mark a potentially definitive test for several Irish athletes in the hunt for Olympic qualification – and indeed the one or two of them actually capable of hunting for medals in London. Because in Saransk, an old industrial city somewhere in south-east Russia, and reportedly almost as hot right now as Doha, the 25th IAAF World Race Walking Cup takes place, which for any elite race walker is the single most important event of the year, outside of the Olympics, naturally.

Which is why all our elite race walkers are out there too – including Robert Heffernan, Brendan Boyce, Jamie Costin, Colin Griffin, Micheál Doyle, Olive Loughnane, and junior Kate Veale – and come Sunday evening they’ll know exactly how hot the competition will be in London, and if they’ll even get the chance to be there.

Heffernan has already qualified in both the 20km and 50km, for what will be his fourth Olympics, no mean feat in itself, and goes in the shorter distance later today. Given the Russians dominate race walking anyway, home advantage will further strengthen their superpowers, and Heffernan will certainly get a truer feel of his medal potential come the summer. Likewise for Loughnane, also already qualified for her fourth Olympics, in the 20km, and although now aged 36, she still believes she has what it takes to mix it with the best of them. Saransk won’t lie, one fears.

Then there’s the men’s 50km walk tomorrow and with three Irish entries: Costin, Griffin and Doyle – the intention there being at least one of them will join Heffernan and Boyce, both already qualified for London (Boyce also drops down to 20km this weekend). The A-standard of 3:59.00 is certainly within reach of Griffin and Costin, although Doyle, while improving, has yet to actually finish the daunting distance this year.

Griffin remains unwaveringly dedicated to race walking, despite losing his grant recently, and has spent the last three weeks preparing for this race at high altitudes of 10,000 feet, or even higher, in the comfy confines of Limerick (go figure that out). Costin, even at age 34, is equally determined to make his fourth Olympics.

There is the chance all three of them could walk under 3:59.00, and with that walk Athletics Ireland into another selection bottleneck: it’s bad enough having to decide which three of our four women’s marathon qualifiers should sent to London, but worse still would be trying to fit five passengers into a three-seater plane, which even by my quick calculations, is an even tighter squeeze.

No one is getting carried away just yet, least of all Griffin. The Leitrim athlete is unquestionably in the physical shape to walk under 3:59.00, but mentally, a series of disqualifications in recent races has left him questioning his tactics, or rather technique. Should he go with his head, start out cautiously, then walk through, thus reducing the chances of some early warnings? Or should he go with his heart, start out confidently, let his walking to all the talking?

Like our marathon quartet of Linda Byrne, Maria McCambridge, Caitriona Jennings and Ava Hutchinson, who still have to wait until May 21st before knowing which of them have a seat on the plane to London, all five 50km walkers are good friends, and occasional training partners. Truth is I wouldn’t normally fancy sitting through a 50km race walk, but it’s a pity this particular one isn’t available to view anywhere, not even on that little red button.