Sonia to benefit as Qatar opens up

Three years ago when the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) set about winning over the Middle East to the delights of modern athletics, Qatar took a tentative bite. The then $2 million (£2.22 million) budget was no big deal, but one thing the IAAF couldn't take in their stride was tradition.

Anxious to promote the sport in such a cash-rich country, the IAAF backed an all-male Grand Prix grade two meet in front of an almost exclusively male audience. Any suggestion of female legs or breasts was strictly taboo. The women who were permitted to watch were, to the dismay of some athletes, tightly corralled into a segregated area.

Many people were queasy about the IAAF's willingness to sacrifice principle for money but the gamble now appears to have paid off. Last year the American Inger Miller was one of a number of athletes who took part in what was the country's first major sporting event to open its doors to women competitors.

Tonight Sonia O'Sullivan, along with Marion Jones, German Heike Drechsler and Fiona May of Italy take part in a meet in Doha that has now evolved into the Grand Prix final, the second biggest athletics meet of the season after the Olympic Games. A miraculous and improbable elevation in status whatever way you look at it.

"Naturally, the idea was to push reforms in favour of women's social and political life," said IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri. He pointed out that in the last year the women of Qatar were allowed to take part in political polls for the first time.

On the track, tonight's 3,000 metres race represents O'Sullivan's last significant track event of the season and renews her old rivalry with Kenya's Tegla Loroupe, who finished fifth in the Olympic 10,000 metre final. The presence of Sally Barsosio should also add an edge at what is O'Sullivan's favourite distance. The winner will earn $50,000 (£55,580 approximately).

In the lists of top athletes for the 2000 season compiled earlier this week, O'Sullivan is ranked second in the world behind Gabriela Szabo. O'Sullivan ran eight minutes 27.58 seconds at Zurich in August to finish second to the Romanian. The world record, incidentally, remains rooted in China. Junxia Wang's 8.06.11 looks entirely safe.

O'Sullivan has also run the fifth fastest time in the world this year in the 5,000 metres, 14.41.02, and the seventh fastest time over 10,000, 30.53.37, which she ran in Sydney.

The $3.4 million (£3.78 million) Doha event, only the second to be staged outside Europe, has attracted 18 Olympic gold, 13 silver and 11 bronze medallists, but not the men's 100 metres world record-holder Maurice Greene who, had he raced, stood a strong chance of swaggering off with as much as $350,000 (£389,000). That's $50,000 (£55,580) for a win, $100,000 (£111,160) as part of his overall Grand Prix earnings, as well as appearance money and potential bonuses, for just one race.

Each event carries a $50,000 tag for the winner. Jones is definitely racing in the 100 metres, which she is unlikely to lose, and could bank another $50,000 if she were to win her re-match against Olympic long jump champion Drechsler and silver medallist May. Jones took bronze in the Olympic final. The American is also in the running for the $200,000 (£222,320) overall Grand Prix first prize.

The season-long series has become a vital money-earner for the athletes, even the biggest stars of the Olympics. Other Sydney champions competing include British triple jumper Jonathan Edwards and America's 400 metres hurdler Angelo Taylor. Jones's manager Charlie Wells, far from concerning himself with the struggle of Muslim women in Arab countries, confirmed that the hottest property in athletics has chosen to compete in Doha rather than to return home after her gruelling Olympic programme of five events because of the financial rewards available.

"It's business," Wells said. "Strictly business."