TRACK A new wave of talent will take center stage

Several top athletes will not compete because of doping issues.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Move over, Marion. Out of the way, Haile.
A new wave of talent will be on display when track and field takes center stage at the Olympic Games.
Today's opening night will feature 22-year-old Ethiopian Keninisa Bekele in the 10,000 meters. Next week, he'll go in the 5,000, attempting to complete a distance-running double that even his famous countryman, Haile Gebrselassie, never accomplished.
The quest is a reasonable one, since Bekele broke Gebrselassie's world records in both events in a nine-day span this year.
Gebrselassie will run in the 10,000, too, seeking a third consecutive Olympic title in the event despite an Achilles' tendon injury.
"I was very close to pulling out," said Gebrselassie, who is attempting to become the first athlete to win the same running event at three Olympics. "Even if I am not doing very well, I feel I need to be there. I will try to do my best. Top three would be really great."
Jones will not be on hand to defend her 100-meter gold medal in the preliminaries of the event today. She failed to qualify for the event at the U.S. Olympic trials. The American contingent in the 100 will feature one of the country's rising young standouts, 20-year-old Lauryn Williams, the NCAA champion.
Another American youngster, 21-year-old Alan Webb, will go in the 1,500 meters qualifying. Webb is the best U.S. runner in the event in years, but still is an underdog against the experience and talent of runners from Africa and Europe.
Doping problems
Top athletes will miss the competition because of doping problems.
Kostas Kenteris was the 200 champion at Sydney. He and training partner Katerina Thanou, who took silver in the 100 in Sydney, withdrew this week amid missed drug tests and a suspicious motorcycle accident. In the 400, champion Michael Johnson has retired.
Torri Edwards was kicked out of the Olympics and suspended for two years for taking a banned stimulant. She is the world champion and is ranked No. 1 this year in the 100, and would have been a medal contender in the 200 as well.
Williams said all the doping cases leave fans wondering if anyone in the sport is drug-free.
"I think the faster you run, the less they're going to think you're a clean athlete," she said.
One of the best competitions should come in the women's pole vault, in which American Stacy Dragila and Russians Svetlana Feofanova and Yelena Isinbayeva have been taking turns breaking the world record the last couple of years.
"When I get in that stadium against the two of them, the tiger is going to come out," Dragila said. "I would love to be on that top step of the podium. I go to bed visualizing that's where I'm going to be."
Pole vault qualifying is on Saturday, with the finals on Tuesday.
Finishing touches
Workers put the finishing touches on the 75,000-seat Olympic stadium Thursday, spray-painting the Olympic rings in red on the track and pounding the last few squares of grass into place on an infield that was stripped for the opening ceremony.
Medal presenters practiced their routines around a victory stand that awaited a good cleaning. Fences from the opening ceremony stood where hurdles were soon to be positioned.
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