Diamond League: Rabat ready to be 1st African city to host
Field includes 20 Olympic medallists, 39 outdoor champions, 2 Canadians
Close to 200 track and field athletes, including 20 Olympic medallists and 39 world outdoor champions, will be part of history Sunday when Rabat becomes the first African city to stage a Diamond League meet (CBCSports.ca, 12 p.m. ET).
Eleven Moroccan athletes will compete at the 52,000-seat Moulay Abdellah Stadium, led by 1,500-metre runner Abdelaati Iguider, a 2012 Olympic and 2015 world championship bronze medallist.
You have kids that come to watch those competitions that can aspire to being an Olympian, an Olympic champion, a marathoner, long jumper ...- 1996 Olympic sprint champion Donovan Bailey on the IAAF expanding to lesser-known cities for Diamond League meets
Canada's Donovan Bailey, who won Olympic gold in the 100-metre sprint at the 1996 Atlanta Summer Games, is one of many former track athletes that support the efforts by the International Association of Athletics Federations to host Diamond League meets in lesser-known cities in eastern Europe, Africa and Asia.
"I competed in Sarajevo when there was a war there. I was one of the first athletes that competed in Doha [Qatar] and held the meet record for 15 years," Bailey told CBCSports.ca this week. "You have kids that come to watch those competitions that can aspire to being an Olympian, an Olympic champion, a marathoner, long jumper, high jumper, swimmer.
"If you're blessed athletically, there is a place for you to train and represent your country, but more importantly, you can make an incredible living at doing it professionally."
For the longevity of the sport, noted Bailey, it's important the IAAF continue to expand.
"When I competed," he said, "there wasn't social media, and even TV coverage was usually localized to the host country. The reach that track and field is getting with social media and cross-branding is incredible. I love it."
Johnathan Cabral, a 23-year-old American-Canadian hurdler who lists Peribonka, Que., as his hometown, is one of two Canadians in action in Rabat.
He enters Sunday's 110-metre race with a season and personal best time of 13.35 seconds, having achieved the Olympic qualification standard at the Mt. SAC Relays in mid-April.
A semifinalist at last year's world championships, Cabral finished second to Damian Warner in 13.37 at the 2015 Canadian championships in Edmonton.
Gavin Smellie, who hails from Etobicoke, Ont., will run in the men's 200 looking to improve upon his season and personal best time of 20.43 seconds. The 29-year-old finished third in the event at the 2015 Canadian track and field championships.
Smellie's best individual result internationally was eighth in the 200 at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Scotland.
Several Canadians are sitting out the Rabat meet to rest up for the May 28 Diamond League in Eugene, Ore., including sprinter Andre De Grasse, pole vaulter Shawn Barber, Tim Nedow (shot put), long jumper Christabel Nettey and distance runner Cam Levins.
Also missing is Jamaican sprint star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who will miss her second straight Diamond League as she recovers from a toe injury. At the Rio Olympics in August, Fraser-Pryce will attempt to become the first woman to win the 100 in three consecutive Summer Games.
Here are some other notable matchups in Rabat:
Women's pole vault
Cuba's Yarisley Silva, a 2015 world champion and 2012 Olympic silver medallists, leads a star-studded field. She missed the world indoor championships in March when her fiancé, Cuban high-jumper Sergio Mestre, was hospitalized after suffering a spinal injury in training.
Silva should face a stern test competing against world indoor silver medallist Sandi Morris, Diamond Race winner Nikoleta Kyriakopoulou, world indoor bronze medallist Ekaterini Stefanidi and three-time Diamond Race champion Silke Spiegelburg, who won non-Diamond League races in Rabat in 2008 and 2009.
Men's discus
World champion Piotr Malachowski of Poland tops a field considered as strong as women's pole vault. The 2015 world champion won at this season's Diamond League opener in Doha with a world-leading throw of 68.3 metres. The top six finishers from last year's world competition in Beijing are in Rabat, including world silver medallist Philip Milanov of Belgium, world bronze medallist Robert Urbanek of Poland and 2008 Olympic champion Gerd Kanter of Estonia.
Diamond League on CBC Sports
CBC Sports will provide live streaming coverage of all 14 Diamond League meets this season at CBCSports.ca and via the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android devices. TV coverage will be featured as part of the network's Road To The Olympic Games weekend broadcasts throughout the season.
The following is a list of upcoming Diamond League meets on CBCSports.ca and the CBC Sports app:
- Rabat (May 22, 12 p.m. ET)
- Eugene (May 28, 4 p.m. ET)
- Rome (June 2, 2 p.m. ET)
- Birmingham (June 5, 9 a.m. ET)
- Oslo (June 9, 2 p.m. ET)
- Stockholm (June 16, 2 p.m. ET)
- Monaco (July 15, 2 p.m. ET)
- London (July 22-23, 3 p.m., 10 a.m. ET)
- Lausanne (Aug. 25, 2 p.m. ET)
- Paris (Aug. 27, 2 p.m. ET)
- Zurich (Sept. 1, 2 p.m. ET)
- Brussels (Sept. 9, 2 p.m. ET)