Almost a year after the 2012 Olympics, London will stage the latest Diamond League athletics meeting later today. With the World Championships taking place in Russia next month, several high profile athletes will compete in what is called, the "Anniversary Games", to prepare for the Worlds in Moscow.
The main attraction will of course, be this man, who, in the build-up to the event, has spoken for the first time about the recent drugs scandal in the sport.
Track and field has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent weeks, with Jamaican stars Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson among a slate of high-profile competitors who have failed drug tests.
But six-time Olympic sprint champion Usain Bolt insists that he’s totally clean, adding that what he has achieved since 2002 only proves that he’s incredibly gifted.
"For me, all I have to do, I was made to inspire people and to run and I was given a gift and that’s what I do. I’m confident in myself, my team, the people I work with and I know I’m clean so I’m just going to continue running and using my talent and try to improve the sport and help the sport. That’s my aim and that’s what I’m going to do," Usain Bolt said.
Some of the other big names competing in the London Diamond League meet include Valerie Adams and Aries Merritt. Adams originally took silver in London, but was upgraded to gold after Nadzeya Ostapchuk failed a drug test. She believes the actions of such individuals are tainting the sport. Merritt on the other hand, thinks athletes are accountable for their own decisions, but says sometimes things happen which are beyond their control.
"I was quite sad and depressed and a lot of emotions went through me but I think one thing (is) that I’ll never forgive her (Nadzeya Ostapchuk). I never will. She’s tainted the sport. She’s tainted our event. It’s something that she shouldn’t have done and the worst thing about it, I think, for me was that she took the moment away. That’s probably what hurts the most is that at the time when I was crying tears of disappointment for my country, for myself, for my coach, this thing was crying her crocodile tears, embracing a moment which shouldn’t have been hers. And that I think is what hurts the most. That she took that away from me. So yes, no sympathy whatsoever. She can stay in Belarus forever," Valerie Adams said.
"I think that no matter who looks at something, it doesn’t matter because at the end of the day it could be contaminated, and if it’s contaminated and you consume it, you’re held accountable and I think that’s just the bottom line. If you take something that has something in it that is tainted and you test positive, you test positive and then your whole world comes crashing down and so I don’t think that the athlete should be held entirely accountable. I guess we’re accountable for what we put in our body but sometimes we just don’t know," Aries Merritt said.
The London Diamond League meet gets underway later Friday, with big names like Bolt, Jessica Ennis, Sally Pearson, and Mo Farah all participating. This is the last major competition before the World Championships get underway in Moscow on August 10th.