DOHA: Ethiopian running legend Kenenisa Bekele will start
his campaign for a fourth Olympic gold this summer by running the 3000m at the
opening Diamond League meet of the season on May 11.
The defending 5000m and 10,000m Olympic champion, and world
record-holder in both events, has spent almost two years on the sidelines due
to a string of injuries, making his comeback last September when he won the
10,000m in Brussels.
In his first ever outing in Doha, the Ethiopian will race
the 3000m -- an event he has not competed in since his triumph at the World
Athletics Final in Thessaloniki in September 2009.
"The presence of Kenenisa Bekele is officially
confirmed," meeting director Abdulla al-Zaini announced on Monday.
"The outdoor season will once again start from Doha and
this year the challenge looks bigger, as 2012 is an Olympic year."
The women's 3000m will feature the reigning world champion
in both the 5000m and 10,000m, Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot.
Cheruiyot will be joined by team-mate Pamela Jelimo, the
Olympic 800m champion and recently-crowned world indoor champion.
Other big names on show will be Ethiopia's world 1500m
indoor champion Genzebe Dibaba and Doha-based Sudanese Abubaker Kaki, world
silver medallist and 2010 world indoor champion in the men's 800m, who will
race the 1500m as he targets double Olympic gold in London.
Kaki will face stiff Kenyan opposition from current Olympic
and world champion Asbel Kiprop, 2011 world silver medallist Silas Kiplagat and
world indoor silver medallist Augustine Choge.
Three initially non-scheduled events, the men's 100m, 800m
and 3000m, were added to the programme as organisers sought to better fill the
stadium of the Qatar Sports Club.
"Our biggest challenge is to attract more spectators
for this meeting," said Sandro Giovanelli, athletes' consultant for the
meet.
This year we are willing to present the best ever event to
the public. We are confident that we will have more star athletes than last
year."
Last year's Diamond League meeting featured no US or
Jamaican sprinters of note because it clashed with the Jamaica International
Invitational meeting in Kingston, which has been upgraded from 'continental' to
an IAAF World Challenge Meeting.
As a result, the best sprinters from Jamaica and the United
States opted to stay closer to home.
This year, the calendar has been reshuffled and the Jamaica
International Invitational will now be held on May 5, potentially opening up
the way for Jamaican sprinters to compete in Doha.
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