Jamaican sprint star Usain Bolt and middle-distance king Mo Farah headline a stellar track and field line-up at the Commonwealth Games which start in Glasgow on Wednesday.
Bolt, world record holder in both the 100 and 200m as well as double Olympic and world champion, has consistently said since his victories at the Moscow worlds in 2013 that the Commonwealths were his goal, depending on coach Glen Mills’ wishes.
So the strapping Jamaican, arguably the biggest name in world sport, will be in Scotland to give the biggest boost to an event that draws competitors from 71 nations, mainly former British colonies, in 17 sports.
But Bolt, a six-time Olympic gold medallist and making his Commonwealth debut in Glasgow, will likely compete only in the 4x100m relay after missing the Jamaican national championships.
“I do not wish to take the place of anyone who qualifies this weekend in an individual event but am available for relay duty if the selectors feel I can be an asset to the Jamaican team in Glasgow,” said the 27-year-old, who has missed proposed comeback meets in Ostrava and Paris because of a foot injury.
“I have received lots of requests, invitations and messages of support from my fans in Scotland who are looking forward to a great event.”
What event Bolt will actually race remains to be known, he himself having expressed his desire to race his preferred 200m.
Track and field will also boast several other household names, notably Farah, who will compete for England.
The Somali-born double Olympic and world 5,000 and 10,000m champion will be going for the double in Scotland’s biggest city after a troubled season during which he has suffered abdominal problems.
Farah had been undecided about whether to compete after finishing eighth in the London Marathon.
But his presence, with the 10,000m final on the opening day, is a fantastic boost for British sport in the wake of the London Olympics, when he won his first gold in an evening session during which Greg Rutherford (long jump) and Jessica Ennis (heptathlon) also triumphed.
UK Athletics performance director Neil Black eased fears over Farah’s medical issues, insisting last week: “Mo has had some challenges with his health which have all been dealt with and he is now phasing back into full training.
“He is really positive about things and he is thinking optimistically about the summer.”
Other notable athletes on show will include David Rudisha, Kenya’s Olympic 800m champion and world record holder, and New Zealand’s Olympic and world shot put champion Valerie Adams, who is on an unbeaten streak of 53 competitions.
Rudisha, on his way back from injury, won the Diamond League meet in Glasgow and while not winning in Monaco last week – coming in sixth, his sub-1:43 time indicates he will be in Scotland for gold.
For Kenya, the long distance men’s team is hoping to end 12 years of frustration in Glasgow.
After dominating both races at the 2002 Games in Manchester, Kenya have since been overshadowed by their Ugandan rivals in the past two Commonwealth Games in Australia and India.
They also lost the 2012 London Olympics and 2013 world championships 5,000m and 10,000m titles to Farah.
“We lost the 5,000m and 10,000m in New Delhi four years ago. We cannot make a repeat of the same mistake in Glasgow,” Kenya’s athletics coach Boniface Tiren told AFP.
Bolt’s female teammates Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell-Brown, albeit the former solely in the relay, will also be on show at Hampden Park in what promises to be one of the best Commonwealth track and field line-ups in many a year.
Usain Bolt will return to Rio de Janeiro next month to run a special 100m on the beach, he said on his website on Sunday, but the Jamaican world record holder is now unlikely to race against Justin Gatlin this year.
The six times Olympic gold medallist added the Aug 17 “Mano a Mano” 100m on Copacabana Beach to three previously announced races in what he said was his finalised schedule for 2014.
Bolt streaked to victory in a 150m race at the famous beach in March 2013 on a track specially built for the event.
He has delayed opening his season this year because of a foot injury and will start with a 4x100m relay with his Jamaican teammates at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Aug 1-2.
The eight-times world champion will also run 100m races in Warsaw, Poland on Aug 23 and at the Zurich Diamond League meeting on Aug 28.
The schedule, unless amended, means Bolt and US world silver medallist Gatlin, who is undefeated this year, are unlikely to meet before 2015.
Gatlin, who returned from a four-year doping ban in 2010, will not receive an invitation to race against Bolt in Zurich because of the Swiss meeting’s “policy to not invite athletes that have been banned for two years or more”, meeting director Patrick Magyar told Reuters via email.
While the 100m race in Zurich is not part of the Diamond League series of events, the 200m race at the same meeting will be.
Gatlin could therefore still race in the longer event, because it is governed by Diamond League rules.
“If Gatlin is, by the time of Zurich, in the top three of the Diamond Race (for the 200), we will invite him for the 200m, which is our Diamond Race event,” Magyar said.
Gatlin, who has won 11 consecutive 100m and two races at 200m this year, is currently tied for fourth in the Diamond League standings for the 200m despite running the year’s fastest time at last week’s Monaco meeting.
Fellow American Tyson Gay, who recently completed a one-year doping ban, already is confirmed for the 200m, Magyar said.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Our legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants
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The five pillars of Islam
Match info
Bournemouth 0
Liverpool 4 (Salah 25', 48', 76', Cook 68' OG)
Man of the match: Andrew Robertson (Liverpool)
Key findings
- Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
- Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase.
- People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”.
- Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better.
- But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
