10 More Olympian/World Champions Added to NY Meet

TEN MORE OLYMPIC OR WORLD CHAMPIONS ADD DEPTH
TO ADIDAS GRAND PRIX ATHLETE FIELD

Double
Olympic champion Tirunesh Dibaba to compete in New York Diamond League
meeting

NEW YORK (May 25, 2010) ‰ÛÓ Double Olympic champion Tirunesh
Dibaba of Ethiopia headlines the 10 Olympic and World
champions added to a stellar world-class international field scheduled
to compete in the adidas Grand Prix on Saturday, June 12, organizers
announced Tuesday.
 
The sixth edition of the adidas Grand Prix will be the deepest in
history‰ÛÓand possibly one of the most impressive lineups outside of the
Olympic Games in the United States‰ÛÓas 29 global champions and six IAAF
Diamond League ambassadors have been announced for the meet. The event,
held at Icahn Stadium on Randall’s Island, will be the fifth stop on the
inaugural 14-meet, international Diamond League circuit.
 
Thrilling match-ups are expected for the New York event, led by the six
previously announced Diamond League ambassadors, including Jamaican
sprint sensation Usain Bolt (later releases has Bolt withdrawing with injury), American sprinter Allyson Felix,
Australian pole vault king Steven Hooker, javelin rivals Andreas
Thorkildsen of Norway and Tero Pitkämäki of Finland making
their U.S. debuts and New Zealander shot putter Valerie Vili.
 
Dibaba, still only 24 years old, has established herself as one of the
most decorated women’s distance runners in history. At the 2008 Olympic
Games, she won double Olympic gold at 5000 and 10,000 meters, making her
the first ever woman to win both events at the same Olympics. She also
set the 5000m world record at the 2008 Oslo Golden League meeting prior
to the Olympics and is an eight-time World champion.
 
A trio of Americans‰ÛÓLopez Lomong, Leo Manzano and Matt
Tegenkamp‰ÛÓwill join their previously announced compatriot and World
champion Bernard Lagat in a deep men’s 1500m. Lomong, 25, who
currently resides in Colorado Springs, Colo., was a 2009 World
Championship finalist and the 2008 NYC Grand Prix champion in this
event. Born in Sudan, he was selected as the U.S. delegation flag bearer
during the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Olympic Games. Manzano, 25,
of Austin, Texas, set a meet record in winning this event at last year’s
Grand Prix and was a World Championship finalist at 1500m. Tegenkamp,
28, of Portland, Ore., holds the American record at two miles and
finished fourth in the 5000m at the 2007 World Championships.

Kenyan Olympic 1500m champion Asbel Kiprop and American
Olympian Nick Symmonds will take on previously announced World
champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa in the men’s 800m.
Kiprop, 20, is the second-fastest 800m runner in the world this year. He
finished second to Lagat in the Wanamaker Mile at the 2010 Millrose
Games. Symmonds, 26, of Springfield, Ore., is the 2008 U.S. Olympic
Trials champion and was the sixth-place finisher at the 2009 IAAF World
Championships over 800m, becoming the first American to make the men’s
800m final since 1997.
 
Felix Sánchez of the Dominican Republic will join an already
strong field for the men’s 400m hurdles that includes previously
announced Javier Culson of Puerto Rico and former World champion Bershawn
Jackson. Sánchez, 32, made history in 2004 when he captured the
Dominican Republic’s first ever Olympic gold medal in winning the 400m
hurdles. Born in New York City and raised in California, Sánchez owns
two World titles in the event.

The men’s triple jump will showcase a
match-up between Swedish Olympic champion Christian Olsson and
previously announced Teddy Tamgho of France. Olsson, 30, has
swept all of the top international honors as the Olympic, World and
European champion and is the former world indoor record holder, a record
now owned by Tamgho. Beset by injuries the past few years, he is
looking to make a comeback in 2010. Tamgho will look to unseat Olsson,
the defending European champion, at this summer’s European
Championships.

Two World Championship medalists will face off in the men’s high
jump as Donald Thomas, 25, of the Bahamas and Poland’s Sylwester
Bednarek, 21, both make their adidas Grand Prix debuts. Thomas was
the 2007 World champion, and Bednarek captured the bronze medal at the
2009 World Championships.

Hooker will face stiff competition
in the men’s pole vault from Germany’s Malte Mohr and France’s Renaud
Lavillenie. Mohr, 23, most recently won the pole vault at the
Shanghai Diamond League meeting on May 23. Earlier this year, he
finished second to Hooker at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in
Doha. Lavillenie, 23, was the 2009 World Championship bronze medalist
and the European Indoor champion. He owns the French national pole vault
record.
 
On the women’s side, Kenya’s Nancy Langat, 28, adds the glitz of
Olympic gold to an already deep women’s 1500m race that includes all
three medalists from the 2009 World Championships and the 2008 World
Indoor champion. Langat is the reigning 1500m Olympic champion. A slew
of Americans bring even more depth to the field. Erin Donohue,
27, of Haddonfield, N.J., finished sixth at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor
Championships over 1500m and was a 2008 Olympian. Jenny Barringer,
23, of Boulder, Colo., set an American record in the 3000m steeplechase
in finishing fifth at the 2009 IAAF World Championships.  Last year,
Barringer ran 3:59.90 and is the fourth-fastest 1500m runner in U.S.
history. Treniere Moser, 28, of Knoxville, Tenn., is a four-time
U.S. champion. Morgan Uceny, 25, of San Diego, Calif., is the
2010 U.S. Indoor champion.
 
In the women’s field events, Sweden’s Olympic heptathlon gold medalist Carolina
Klüft will face off against Estonian Ksenija Balta in the
long jump; American Olympic champion Stephanie Brown Trafton will
compete in the discus; and Natalia Khoroneko-Mikhnevich and
Nadezhda Ostapchuk of Belarus will take on Vili in the shot put.
Klüft, 27, is a four-time World champion in addition to winning the 2004
Olympic heptathlon title. She is the No. 2 heptathlon performer in
history. Balta, 24, is the 2009 European Indoor champion. Brown Trafton,
30, of Oceano, Calif., was the United States’ first gold medalist in
the women’s discus since Lillian Copeland in 1932 when she won the event
at the 2008 Olympic Games.
 
Khororenk-Mikhnevich, 28, won silver to Vili’s gold at the 2008 Olympic
Games. She is also the 2006 World Indoor and European champion in the
event. Ostapchuk, 29, owns eight Olympic or World Championship medals in
the shot put and defeated Vili to win gold at the 2010 World Indoor
Championships, claiming her second World title and snapping the New
Zealander’s 28-meet winning streak in the process. Additionally,
Ostapchuk and Vili have a 10-8 record against each other in the
Belarussian’s favor.

Media interested in covering the event can access the accreditation
application at www.adidasgrandprix.com. The deadline for applying is
Monday, May 31. Updates, photos, and additional information can found at
the adidas Grand Prix pages on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/adidasGrandPrix)
and Twitter (http://twitter.com/adidasGrandPrix).
 
The adidas Grand Prix, in its sixth year, is the nation’s premier
outdoor track & field invitational meet. It features Olympic stars,
the Jim Ryun High School Dream Mile for top high school athletes and the
NYC Mayor’s Cup Fastest Kids competition for youth in the tristate
area. Increased and upgraded backstretch seating at track level is being
added to accommodate the growing demand and interest from fans in the
New York area.
 
Tickets and transportation information is available now at
www.adidasgrandprix.com or by calling 1-877-TIX-TRAC. Remaining tickets
for the event will be made available on June 2 at 12:00 p.m. EDT.
 
***
 
All athletes announced for the adidas Grand Prix (as of May 25) include:
(new additions to the field in bold)

MEN
Daniel Bailey (ANT): men’s 100m; World Championship bronze
medalist
Yohan Blake (JAM): men’s 100m; World Junior Championship bronze medalist

Usain Bolt (JAM): men’s 100m; three-time Olympic and World champion
Richard Thompson (TRI): men’s 100m; Olympic silver medalist
Asbel Kiprop (KEN): men’s 800m; Olympic champion
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi (RSA): men’s 800m; two-time World champion and Olympic
silver medalist
Nick Symmonds (USA): men’s 800m; Olympian
Bernard Lagat (USA): men’s 1500m; four-time World champion and two-time
Olympic medalist
Lopez Lomong (USA): men’s 1500m; Olympian
Leo Manzano (USA): men’s 1500m; Olympian
Deresse Mekonnen (ETH): men’s 1500m; two-time World champion
Matt Tegenkamp (USA): men’s 1500m; Olympian
Javier Culson (PUR): men’s 400m hurdles; World Championship silver
medalist
Bershawn Jackson (USA): men’s 400m hurdles; World champion and Olympic
and World medalist
Danny McFarlane (JAM): men’s 400m hurdles; two-time Olympic silver
medalist
Isa Phillips (JAM): men’s 400m hurdles; Olympian
Felix Sánchez (DOM): men’s 400m hurdles; Olympic champion
Brimin Kipruto (KEN): men’s steeplechase; Olympic and World champion
Paul Kipsiele Koech (KEN): men’s steeplechase; Olympic bronze medalist
Donald Thomas (BAH): men’s high jump; World champion
Sylwester Bednarek (POL): men’s high jump; World Championship
bronze medalist
Walter Davis (USA): men’s triple jump; two-time World champion
Christian Olsson (SWE): men’s triple jump; Olympic champion
Teddy Tamgho (FRA): men’s triple jump; World champion
Steve Hooker (AUS): men’s pole vault: Olympic and World champion
Renaud Lavillenie (FRA): men’s pole vault; World Championship
silver medalist
Malte Mohr (GER): men’s pole vault; World Indoor Championship
silver medalist
Tero Pitkämäki (FIN): men’s javelin; World champion and Olympic
bronze medalist
Andreas Thorkildsen (NOR): men’s javelin; Olympic, World and European
champion

WOMEN
Kelly-Ann Baptiste (TRI): women’s 200m; Olympian
Veronica Campbell-Brown (JAM): women’s 200m; two-time Olympic and
two-time World champion
Allyson Felix (USA): women’s 200m; three-time World champion and
two-time Olympic silver medalist
Carmelita Jeter (USA): women’s 200m; three-time World Championship
medalist
Marshevet Myers (USA): women’s 200m; Olympic finalist
Gelete Burka (ETH): women’s 1500m; two-time World champion
Jenny Barringer (USA): women’s 1500m; Olympian
Lisa Dobriskey (GBR): women’s 1500m; World Championship silver medalist
Erin Donohue (USA): women’s 1500m; Olympian
Maryam Yusuf Jamal (BRN): women’s 1500m; two-time World champion
Nancy Langat (KEN): women’s 1500m; Olympic champion
Treniere Moser (USA): women’s 1500m; four-time U.S. champion
Anna Pierce (USA): women’s 1500m; Olympic finalist
Shannon Rowbury (USA): women’s 1500m; World Championship bronze medalist
Morgan Uceny (USA): women’s 1500m; U.S. champion
Tirunesh Dibaba (ETH): women’s 5000m; two-time Olympic champion
and eight-time World champion
Delloreen Ennis-London (JAM): women’s 100m hurdles; three-time World
Championship medalist
Dawn Harper (USA): women’s 100m hurdles; Olympic champion
Lolo Jones (USA): women’s 100m hurdles; two-time World champion
Susanna Kallur (SWE): women’s 100m hurdles; European champion
Ksenija Balta (EST): women’s long jump; Olympian; European Indoor
champion
Carolina Klüft (SWE): women’s long jump; Olympic champion and
four-time World champion
Chelsea Johnson (USA): women’s pole vault; World Championship silver
medalist
Jenn Suhr (USA): women’s pole vault; Olympic and World Championship
silver medalist
Natalia Khoroneko-Mikhnevich (BLR): women’s shot put; World
champion and Olympic silver medalist
Nadezhda Ostapchuk (BLR): women’s shot put; two-time World
champion and Olympic bronze medalist
Valerie Vili (NZL): women’s shot put; Olympic, World and Commonwealth
champion
Stephanie Brown Trafton (USA): women’s discus; Olympic champion
Jessica Ennis (GBR): women’s multi; two-time World champion
Hyleas Fountain (USA): women’s multi; Olympic silver medalist
 
About RISF
Icahn Stadium, a state-of-the-art facility on Randall’s Island featuring
a 400-meter Mondo track and covered seating for spectators, is the
premier outdoor track-and-field venue in New York City. It was built by
the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation (RISF) in partnership with New
York City Department of Parks. The facility is programmed, operated and
maintained by RISF.