Bolt to open Diamond League campaign in Rome, Rudisha also announced - Samsung Diamond League

Rome, Italy - World record holders Usain Bolt and David Rudisha will be among the key headliners at the Compeed Golden Gala, the third leg of the 2011 Samsung Diamond League, on 26 May at Rome's Olympic Stadium.

Bolt, the Olympic and World champion and World record holder in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m Relay, will be competing in Italy for the first time, and is eagerly anticipating his start in the 100m.

"I’m looking forward to test the reaction of the Roman crowd, whose love for sports is well known worldwide. I know that the Olympic stadium has a very fast track, as some of the best sprinters ran remarkable times there in the last ten years. I hope to put my name on that list, hopefully somewhere on the top."

The Golden Gala meeting record of 9.77 was set in 2009 by Tyson Gay who defeated Bolt in their last meeting at the Samsung Diamond League fixture in Stockholm last August.

"I am working hard to be ready for the 26th of May," Bolt said. "It will be my first European and Samsung Diamond League competition, in a season leading to the IAAF World Championships in Daegu. I am fully recovered, after the injury I suffered the last summer, and the training has been going according to the plans of my coach. I am confident I will be able to get the best shape at the right time in the summer. I only want to say to the people in Italy: come to the Rome Olympic Stadium on 26 May, we will enjoy a great athletics party there.”

FIDAL President Franco Arese, the 1971 European 1500m champion, also announced that organizers have signed Rudisha, the 2010 World Athlete of the Year. The Kenyan set two World records in the 800m in 2010, the second, a sensational 1:41.01, at the IAAF World Challenge Meeting in Rieti, the historical town not far from the Italian capital.

The 2011 edition of the Golden Gala will be the first of three with a new title sponsor. Compeed, the prestigious brand from Johnson & Johnson, will add its name to the Golden Gala until 2013.

Just as it did a year ago, in 2011 the Golden Gala will be the focus of a week dedicated to athletics at the Parco del Foro Italico of Rome, the very well-known sports area including the most important (and fully renovated) Olympic facilities of 1960. The Farnesina stadium will host the final leg of Nations Students Athletics Championships (organized by FIDAL, CONI and Ministry of Education, supported by major sponsor Kinder+Sport), involving hundreds of students between the ages of 12 and 18 coming from all over the country. They will all be living the magical atmosphere of the Golden Gala on the night of 26 May.

Source: http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=100/newsid=59159.html