Boston, Massachusetts - A documentary on Jesse Owens is to get United States athletes geared up to qualify for the world championships in Berlin's Olympic Stadium where the legend won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. The 1964 film Jesse Owens Return To Berlin will be shown on a big video screen at the Hayward Field stadium in Eugene on Wednesday. The four-day US trials kick off Thursday.
The August 15-23 worlds will be the first global athletics championship in the stadium since Owens made history there 73 years ago with 100m, 200m, 4x100, and long jump golds.
There the US will hope to make up for poor showings at last year's Olympics in Beijing and will also be measured by the massive success the team had at the 2007 worlds in Osaka where US athletes claimed 14 golds and 26 medals overall.
The blue riband 100m dash is led by Tyson Gay who is automatically qualified for Berlin as the 100m and 200m title holder and doesn't have to hope for a top three finish like all others to go to Germany.
Gay will make his 100m season debut in Eugene, but has already made a massive statement towards double Olympic champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica with a 200m run of 19.58 seconds on May 30 in New York, the third best time ever over the distance.
"It made me very, very happy," said Gay, adding in the direction of the world record holder (19.30 seconds) Bolt, "He's probably excited."
Doug Logan, the CEO of the athletics federation USATF,said: "There he showed his great form. We are looking forward to his 100 metres."
Jamaica swept the men's and women's sprints in Beijing, while Gay has bad memories of China as he limped out in the 100m semi-finals and didn't qualify for the 200m.
Fast times are expected from him in Eugene where he ran a national record 9.76 last year in the heat and a wind-assisted 9.68 seconds in the final, the fastest ever time one hundredth ahead of Bolt's world record 9.69.
In the 200m Gay will run into Jeremy Wariner who due to automatic qualification as world champion in the 400m will run the short race at the trials.
"I hope to run sub 20 seconds," said Wariner.
Also out for a top result is long jumper Dwight Phillips, a two-time world champion and 2004 Olympic champion who failed in fourth place last year to go to Beijing.
Philipps restored his pride with 8.74m, also in Eugene on June 7, the biggest jump since Mike Powell's world record 8.95m at the 1991 worlds.
"I knew I was capable of jumping this far. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season. I'm hungry. I'm excited about the sport again," said Phillips.
Top acts in the women's field are
