Derrick Atkins in the first round of the 100m (© Getty Images)
Conventional wisdom since the start of the year has suggested that the men's 100m medals in Beijing will be split between Jamaica and the United States but other men have the credentials to seriously beg to differ.
The Bahamas' Derrick Atkins, Netherlands Antilles' Churandy Martina and the Trinidad and Tobago duo of Richard Thompson and Marc Burns lead the Caribbean challenge to upset the odds, while Portugal's Francis Obikwelu is looking to put the old continent on the podium.
Atkins ready to attack
At the World Championships 12 months ago, Atkins showed he is the man for the big occasion in Osaka when got the 100m silver medal, wearing his nation's striking blue apparel in one of the sport's blue riband events. He came home behind Tyson Gay, but ahead of Asafa Powell, in a national record 9.91.
This year Atkins has yet to legally go under the elite benchmark of 10 seconds. His best for the year so far is the 10.02 he ran on 29 July at the Monaco Grand Prix meeting, although he has twice cracked the barrier with wind-assistance during this summer.
However, like a slow burning fuse, Atkins believes that he is ready to detonate at the appropriate moment and, after his feat last year, it's hard to argue against him.
"I know the attention has been on the guys like Asafa and Usain, as well as the Americans, but it was the same last year. It doesn't matter to me that people are talking about them because the Olympics are the only thing that matters this year and I'm confident I can be on the podium in Beijing," commented Atkins.
"In Beijing, it could take running in the 9.7s to get a medal but I think I'll be ready to do that," he added.
Martina part of the human race
Like Atkins, Martina also played his part in the 100m final in Osaka 12 months ago. On that occasion he finished fifth but the Texas-based 24-year-old from the island of Curaçao is now another year older, wiser and faster.
"I always see things positively. On the start line we are all human beings. Gay, Bolt, Powell? They are all human beings like anybody else and I feel I'm just as capable of getting a medal as anybody else as well," said Martina.
"I want to win a medal at this year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. I want to get even higher on the list of fastest athletes in the world. My goal is to break a World record. I know I can reach all of this because nowadays I stand right next to those athletes that I used to look up to. They are not the untouchable heroes any more. They are athletes just like me who are competing with each other to find out which one of us is the fastest.”
Martina is also bidding to become just the second competitor from his country to stand on an Olympic podium, following in the footsteps of the sailing silver medal won by Jan Boersma 20-years-ago.
A medal would also guarantee a broad smile from Martina, although it has to be said he hardly ever wears a frown, and if that happens then many people will inevitably notice a huge gold-capped tooth engraved with the letter C.
"I started wearing it in 2003 after I won the Pan-American Junior 100m title. The C is for Churandy, for Curaçao and for champion," grinned Martina.
No pension just yet for Obikwelu
Francis Obikwelu has promised that Beijing will be his last Olympics, despite still being 29 and many sprinters reaching maturity in their 30s.
"There has been a lot of running in these old legs and they are not going to carry me to London. I will be retired before then," joked the reigning European 100m and 200m champion, who first went to the Olympics Games as a 17-year-old in 1996.
However, if this Olympic Games is to be his swansong, then Obikwelu is determined to go out on a high note after winning the silver medal four years ago in a European record of 9.86.
"I think I've proved in the past that I know what it takes to be ready for the major championships and people know that I'm the type of sprinter that needs plenty of races to reach my peak, so nobody I know is reading too much into my times so far this season. I'm still going to be there and there have been enough signs of the old Francis this season to give me confidence it'll all be there in Beijing," reflected the genial Obikwelu, who has prepared for much of this season across the border in Madrid.
Few would suggest that Obikwelu's confidence in his own ability to rise to the occasion is misplaced after a quick glance at his competitive record.
He has been winning medals on the global stage for over a decade, first getting a 200m bronze medal as a teenager at the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris and following it up outdoors in Seville over the same distance, and with a medal of a similar hue, two years later.
Roberts Crawford, Boldon.. and now Thompson and Burns?
Trinidad and Tobago can't point to quite as an extensive medal haul from its sprinters as its neighbour Jamaica but that definitely doesn't mean the country has no tradition of producing speedsters.
Edwin Roberts, Hasely Crawford - who is still the only man from Trinidad to triumph at the Olympics with his 100m gold medal in 1976 - and, more recently, Ato Boldon all have places on the Olympic roll of honour.
In Beijing, Richard Thompson and Marc Burns will be looking to join them.
Thompson was an impressive winner of the high-quality American collegiate NCAA 100m title in June, beating a host of top American sprinters, and clocked a personal best of 9.93 in May, while Burns has been a consistent performer for several years and reached the 100m final at the last two IAAF World Championships.
"I'm not going to say I can beat Usain and Asafa, they are running exceptionally well at the moment but I feel confident in what I can do from 60 metres. I've got to be there and then I can make up a lot of ground over the last part of the race," said Burns, after winning the 100m at the ÅF Golden League meeting in Rome last month.
"However, I like the fact that I've been below the radar. It allows me and my coach to just do what we've got to do in search of that perfect race without all the outside attention, which can sometimes be a distraction," added the 25-year-old sprinter.
He has since gone on to show he's as good as his word by running Powell close at the London Grand Prix in 9.97, his fastest time of the summer an just one-hundredth shy of his lifetime best.
Burns's recent performances are just one pointer to the fact that the world of men's sprinting doesn't just revolve around a small axis lodged somewhere between the United States and Jamaica.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
