Athletes to watch at London

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The world’s greatest athletes descend on London in July for the 2012 Olympics. Reuters’ Martyn Herman highlights the ones to watch out for when the Games get underway:

Usain Bolt (athletics): The face of the Beijing Olympics where the Jamaican sprinter’s jaw-dropping speed earned him three golds in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay and three world records.

He has been pretty much unbeatable when it matters since, winning the five golds from the last two world championships — his only blemish coming in Daegu where he was disqualified after false-starting in the 100m.

Tickets to watch Bolt race in London will be like gold dust, but those with seats better not be late as some predict, if he is firing on all cylinders, he can lower his 100m world record mark below 9.5 seconds.

Yelena Isinbayeva (athletics): The Russian manages to combine grace and power in the pole vault to devastating effect, soaring higher and higher since setting her first world record of 4.82 metres in Gateshead in 2003.

Since then she has steadily raised the bar to 5.06 metres, considerably higher than one of London’s famous red double decker buses, claiming five world titles and the Olympic golds in Athens and Beijing.

Should the pole vault queen win in London, when she will have turned 30, she will become the first female track and field athlete to win gold at three consecutive Games.

David Rudisha (athletics): The latest in a long line of Kenyan two-lap specialists, the 23-year-old world record holder will be aiming for his first Olympic gold when he lines up in the 800 metres in London.

Rudisha, a Maasai tribe warrior, set a world record of 1:41.09 in Berlin in 2010 and then a few weeks later lowered it again to 1:41.01. He is the current world champion and was voted world athlete of the year for 2011.

London Olympic chairman Sebastian Coe will have a keen eye on the lanky Rudisha’s performance, having once held the world record over the distance himself. Rudisha said watching videos of Coe inspired him to run.

Nataliya Dobrynska (athletics): All eyes will be on the mourning Ukrainian multi-eventer’s every move as she takes on British darling Jessica Ennis in the heptathlon.

She emerged from nowhere to win the gold in 2008 and again upset the form book at the recent world indoor championships, beating Ennis and Russian world champion Tatyana Chernova to gold in a new heptathlon world record.

Dobrynska suffered heartbreak recently when her husband and coach Dmytro Polyakov died after a lengthy battle with cancer.

Allyson Felix (athletics): The shining star of the US women’s track and field team, she is still without an individual gold at an Olympics, having to make do with silver in the 200m at Athens and Beijing.

The wholesome daughter of a Christian minister in southern California, Felix was denied a fourth successive world championship 200 gold in Daegu last year.

Expect to see a lot of her in London if she doubles up in the 400m and competes in both relays.