Maurice Greene and Marion Jones open 2000 IAAF Grand Prix season in Osaka
10 May 2000 - The first of the ten IAAF Grand Prix meetings scheduled for the year 2000 will take place on Saturday in Osaka, Japan, and will feature two great athletics’ stars in the 100 metres, with Maurice Greene and Marion Jones appearing in their first international meetings.
The season that starts this week-end (the second leg of the circuit will be held in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday) will be long and demanding. It will end at the IAAF Grand Prix Final in Doha (Qatar) on 5 October, where the winners of the various disciplines and overall winners will share US$3,388,000 in prize money.
The disciplines counting for the Grand Prix this year are, for men: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 3000m, 400m hurdles, high jump, pole vault, triple jump, shot put and hammer throw; and for women: 100m, 400m, 1500m, 3000m, 100m hurdles, long jump, discus and javelin.
Athletes who have figured in the top-50 performances world wide during 1999 or since the start of the 2000 season are qualified to participate in the Grand Prix.
Maurice Greene and Marion Jones hold, respectively the best performances for men and women in the 100m in 1999. Greene set the World Record over the distance with his clocking of 9.79 in Athens on 16 June last year and he followed this up with two exceptional performances in the IAAF World Championships in Seville, with 9.80 for the 100m and 19.90 in the 200m.
Greene is the man to beat for the world’s sprint fraternity, led by Canada’s Bruny Surin, who took silver in the 100m in Seville with a time of 9.84 and who will be lining up against Greene in Osaka.
Marion Jones will also be chasing a dream: that of winning five gold medals in the Sydney Olympics: 100m, 200m, long jump, 4x100 and 4x400.
Nine months ago, in Seville, Jones was injured in the semi-final of the 200m, after winning the 100m and losing (she took bronze) the long jump. But Jones has the determination to match her athletic talent.
After a winter of intensive training, she made her season’s debut in Walnut, where she ran the 400m in 49.59, without pushing herself: a performance better than any recorded by a woman during the 1999 season.
All eyes will be on Jones for this first international appearance of the year, where she will compete in both the 100m and long jump.
