Athens - Athletics is crying out for an image makeover and a crop of young athletes appear ready to restore the glory and step in to replace ageing stars.
The Olympic Games also should provide the perfect opportunity for athletics to rebound from doping scandals that have tainted theYou don't just know what will happen in Athens sport this year.
In many events, the competition is expected to more open than it has been in decades.
The absence of Marion Jones and the uncertainty surrounding Torri Edwards could leave the United States without a gold in the women's sprints.
'Greene is the Olympic champion and I hope to beat him in Athens' The 100 could go to a European sprinter. Ivet Lalova, a slender, 20-year-old Bulgarian, leads the world this season with 10.77 seconds. Christine Arron of France, the European record holder, is second at 10.95.
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Jones, who won five medals in Sydney four years ago, including three golds, failed to make the US team in the 100 and 200 and will only compete in the long jump. But she is also under investigation by the US Anti-Doping Agency.
Edwards qualified for the US team in the 100 and 200 for the Athens Games, but tested positive for a banned stimulant earlier this year. That could lead to a ban of up to two years, unless she can convince authorities there were mitigating circumstances in her case.
If US female sprinters appear to be outsiders, the men's dash is likely to be an American affair, involving defending champion Maurice Greene and Shawn Crawford, who tops this season's lists with 9.88 seconds. Greene's best so far is 9.91 - a time matched by Asafa Powell of Jamaica when he beat Greene at the Crystal Palace meet July 30.
"Greene is the Olympic champion and I hope to beat him in Athens. I can cope with the hype and expectations," Powell said after the meet.
'You don't just know what will happen in Athens' Athens holds good memories for Greene - it's where he set the world record of 9.79 seconds in June 1999.
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