OLYMPIC success has taken its toil both on the bodies and on the bank balances of champions Michael Johnson and Noureddine Morceli
Johnson, the 200 and 400 metres Olympic champion, and Morceli, the 1,500m winner, have been forced to pull out of the world's richest meeting in Zurich tonight because of injuries picked up in Atlanta.
Organisers said Johnson would miss the weltklasse event because of a knee injury, while Morceli is still struggling with a problem with his ankle which was spiked during his Olympic triumph.
The duo will miss out on the sport's biggest payday in the Swiss financial city where world records are rewarded with kilos of gold and where an athlete such as Johnson can pocket at least $70,000 just for turning up.
For example, the important statistics from last year's meeting were not the 5,000m world record set by Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, or in the 3,000m steeplechase by Moses Kiptanui of Kenya but the rich rewards such endeavour yielded. The meeting was the richest single night in the history of athletics with the promoter, Res Brugger, paying out about $8 million in appearance and bonus fees.
Gebrselassie and Kiptanui received $50,000 as an appearance fee from Brugger, who also paid a win bonus of $5,000. Then he had to pay another $50,000 as a world-record bonus and a further $20,000 bonus for such brilliant performances. The meeting's sponsors also put up a 2 1/2lb gold bar for the world record, worth another $15,000.
However, since Brugger is a retired banker and since this meeting is held in the centre of Swiss banking, it is likely that any record bonus payments tonight will have again been covered by a very careful insurance policy.
A series of marks will come under attack again, including Sebastian Coe's world 800m record of 1 min 41.73sec, now celebrating its 15th anniversary and the oldest in the book. Wilson Kipketer, the man chasing it, has plenty of incentive to go for a fast time besides the money.
He will meet Norway's Vebjoern Rodal, who won the Olympic title in Kipketer's absence after red tape prevented the Kenyan-born world champion representing his adopted country Denmark, in Atlanta.
"I feel I have something to prove," Kipketer said. "But no amount of victories or fast times will make up for missing the Olympics."
Also missing will be Czech Olympic javelin champion Jan Zelezny, who injured his throwing arm in a trial for the Atlanta Braves baseball team last week.
There are also questions over American Olympic high hurdles champion Allen Johnson, who is suffering with a problematic wisdom tooth, and Burundi's 5,000m champion Venuste Niyongabo, who has a problem at the base of his back.
Veteran Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey also has a back problem but should be able to run the 100m. But American triple jumper Mike Conley and Algeria's female middle-distance runner Hassiba Boulmerka have only 50 per cent chances of competing.
The men's 100m should provide one of the highlights of an evening which crams most of the Olympic Games' main events into a few hours. The worldwide sale of the lucrative television rights finances the athletes' thick pay packets.
Canada's Olympic sprint champion Donovan Bailey will take on Atlanta bronze medallist Ato Boldon and Britain's former champion Linford Christie over 100m. Namibia's silver medallist Frankie Fredericks is due to run the 200m.
Bailey said last week that he was keen to take on Johnson in a lucrative showdown over 150m during the grand prix circuit in the next month which will take the Canadian to Zurich, Cologne, Brussels and Berlin.
But Bailey said the race, which has yet to be finalised in view of Johnson's injury, would not affect his standing as the world's fastest man or Johnson's title as the most versatile sprinter in history.
"At 150 we'd both be running a distance that would not affect anything. I'm looking forward to it," he said.
Britain's Jonathan Edwards still has the glint of gold in his eyes but is worried about the rest of his body as he prepares to take on the man who deprived him of the Olympic triple jump title.
perform" said a weary Edwards, who faces the first of two clashes in six days with American Kenny Harrison.
"Part of me says rest for the next three months and then start training for the World Championships next year.
"But I hope this will kick-start the rest of my season. If a head-to-head with Harrison doesn't get me fired up, nothing will."
Michael Johnson's absence from the 400m has propelled silver medallist Roger Black into pole position.
The British record-holder at 44.37secs would love to find the extra stride to threaten Thomas Schonlebe's nine-year-old European best of 44.33.
But gunning for him is Mark Richardson, who beat relay partner Black over 300m at Crystal Palace on Monday and who is intent on burying the disappointment of missing out on an individual place in Atlanta.
Richardson, with a fastest of 44.52, blamed that on food poisoning before Britain's trials. Now, he is flying again and says: "This is my Olympic final.
am convinced I would have featured in Atlanta. But that's in the past. I have to concentrate now on Roger's record."
The past has shown that athletes are very much motivated to produce top performances because of the huge money on offer. If the Zurich weather is good, anything can happen in what is always a packed Letzigrund arena.
