London Games to open in troubled times

Unparalleled sporting history

Britain possesses an unparalleled sporting history, stemming from that astounding period in Victorian Britain when the rules for virtually all the games now played throughout the world were either invented or codified.

"We're coming to a nation that invented modern sport in the second half of the 19th century," IOC president Jacques Rogge said at Formula One's British Grand Prix this month.

"We're also coming to a nation that has included sport in its school curriculum and it's a nation that loves sport, knows sport, and that will show."

The Olympic movement has been criticized as bloated, grandiose and in thrall to the sponsors and television companies who provide the money which underpins modern sport.

No credible alternative economic model exists and, even if the IOC ceased to exist, the sports and leisure industries would soon entice the individual federations into new multi-sports commercial ventures.

Under Rogge, the IOC has moved with the times and there is also nothing remotely bloated about the background of the athletes expected to make the most impact when the track and field competition, the core sport of the Games, starts on Aug 3.

Usain Bolt electrified the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing four years ago with world records in the 100 and 200 meters followed by a third as a member of the Jamaican 4x100 relay squad.

Bolt is coached by Glen Mills at the Racers Track Club in Kingston, where the facilities are rudimentary but the work ethic relentless.

After Bolt again shattered the world 100 and 200 records at the 2009 Berlin world championships, clocking a scarcely credible 9.58 and 19.19 seconds, another golden double in London seemed a formality provided he remained fit and focused.

Four years, though, is a long time in the life of any athlete and now another sprinter from the Racers Track Club threatens to dethrone Bolt in London.

Yohan Blake rejoices in the nickname of "The Beast", a tribute to his ferocious appetite for training. Whereas Bolt is tall, lean and languid, Blake is compact, muscular and explosive.

At the Daegu world championships last year, Blake won the 100 metres after Bolt was disqualified for a false start. This year he beat Bolt, who has been hampered by a right hamstring strain, decisively in both the 100 and 200 at the Jamaican Olympic trials.

The 100 metres is the most exciting and the most elemental of races, equivalent to a world heavyweight title fight in that the winner of the former can plausibly claim to be the fastest man in the world while the victor of the latter can say he is the meanest.

It is also the most unforgiving. "In the 100 metres a single mistake can cost you victory," said Carl Lewis, winner of nine Olympic track and field titles.

Lewis is the only man to retain the Olympic 100 title, albeit through the disqualification of Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics after a positive drugs test.

In London, the race is likely to be won and lost at the start. Because of his height, Bolt is slow to unwind out of the blocks but if he does get away swiftly there is nobody in the world who can touch him.