Taipei, May 27 (CNA) Sprinter Michael Frater, a member of Jamaica's world record-setting 4x100-meters men's relay team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said Thursday that he would like to be the first athlete to break the 10-second mark in the men's 100-meters in Taiwan.
Frater was among 15 top athletes, including four Olympic gold medalists, invited to attend the 2010 Chinese Taipei International Athletic Meet scheduled to take place May 28-29 in Taipei with over 600 athletes from 15 countries participating.
The gold medalists are Frater, Polish shot putter Tomasz Majewski and New Zealand women's shot putter Valerie Vili -- all of whom won their golds in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Tim Mack, who won the men's pole vault in the 2004 Athens Olympics, will also compete.
Responding to a reporter's question, Frater said he would love to be the first to break the 10-second mark in Taiwan, where Liu Yuan-kai and Tsai Mung-lin share the national record of 10.29 seconds.
The athletes have a lighter year than usual this year, since there are no major championships this year after the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Vili, who came to Taiwan after a Shanghai Diamond League athletics meet last week, said she will focus on the Diamond League this year.
She said she was hoping for a good result this week in Taipei, before spending a week training in Singapore and competing in the next Diamond League series in New York.
German discus thrower Robert Harting, who won gold in the World Championships last year and fourth place in Beijing, said the competition is a good opportunity for a reunion with his Taiwanese friend Chang Ming-huang, one of the best discus throwers in Taiwan, who uses the same coach as Harting -- Werner Goldmann -- when he is in Germany.
The Chinese Taipei Track and Field Association (CTTFA) , the game's organizer, hopes that the competition's "star power" will inspire local athletes and rejuvenate local development in the track and field category, which has suffered from lackluster performance for some time, said CTTFA Secretary-General Wang Ching-cheng. (By Chris Wang) ENDITEM/J