CAN WORLD RELAYS FLY WITHOUT TRACK’S BIGGEST STARS?

No Bolt, no Powell,  no Gatlin, no Gay, no Felix, no Jeter, no Veronica Campbell Brown. Can the inaugural IAAF World Relay Championships get off on the right footing this weekend in the Bahamas?

The stadium is sold out and the global coverage is extensive but through no fault of their own, the organizers of the championships set for May 24 and 25, can only now hope that they will produce the kind of competition that will get the world buzzing because without the sport’s biggest stars their job is now a lot harder. Can the games live up to the hype?

I remember the first time I heard about the IAAF World Relays a few years ago I, like many others, were excited. Imagine a team of say Bolt, Blake, Powell, Carter going up against Gay, Gatlin, Dix, and Tremmell or a team of Jeter, Anderson, Gardener, Pierre up against Shelly Ann-Frazer-Pryce, VCB, and Kerron Stewart in the 4x100m relay? Those are races the world would pay good money to see because once the stick makes it all the way around you know that a world record run is almost guaranteed.

Now imagine a 4x200m team of Bolt, Blake, Weir and Jason Young or Nickel Ashmeade, the top five sprinters in the event in the world just two seasons ago? That 20-year-old record of 1:18.68 held by the Carl Lewis-led Santa Monica track club would certainly be obliterated.

However, none of that might become reality because with just days to go before the start of the championships, unfortunately, most of the world’s greatest sprinters are not going to be available. Because of injury Bolt is not yet ready to compete, Powell is out on a drug suspension, Gatlin has reported sponsorship obligations that will not allow him to compete, and Gay wont return from his suspension until next month. The women don’t fare much better with Jeter out, reportedly because of injury, Felix for reasons unknown, and Campbell Brown was not selected for lack of form.

Several pundits with whom I have spoken about this issue suggested that the Bahamian fans will turn out to see their mile relay squad take on the all-powerful Americans and there will be intriguing middle distance relays between the Europeans and the Africans. Well, in truth the Africans should win all of those but it will be intriguing to see how much they can be pushed by, say, the Russians, and perhaps the Americans.

In Europe and in the USA, potentially the biggest markets for the struggling sport, while there is a lot of buzz about middle distance racing, one must admit that there is nothing like watching the fastest men and women alive going full tilt with the winner virtually guaranteed a world record. Notwithstanding the quality of sprinters like Blake, the second fastest man of all time; Warren Weir, the third fastest Jamaican in history; Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, the fastest Jamaican woman ever and Kerron Stewart, the absence of the sport’s biggest draw in Bolt, and super sprinters like Jeter, Gatlin and Gay, does dull the potential excitement to a great degree. So while the stadium might be packed with Bahamians, I worry about the global appeal of the championships without the sport’s biggest stars.

Having that said, its not like the sprint relays wont be competitive. The USA has a deep pool of talent and exciting young sprinters like Marvin Bracy and R. Mookie Salaam should be worth watching but can they really present a threat to a team of Blake, Carter, Ashmeade, and Kemar Bailey Cole or Michael Frater, without their two fastest men – Gay and Gatlin? On paper the outcome already seems anti-climactic. Similarly, can a US female team without Jeter and even Felix, contend with a team of Frazer-Pryce and Stewart? I guess those questions could provide the kind of intrigue required to get people’s attention, but will it be enough?

Only time will tell.