It's hard to imagine what sort of appearance fee Yohan Blake would have commanded in the immediate aftermath of the London Olympics, although less than three years on things have changed as his appearance in the Morton Games in Santry on Friday evening suggests.
Although that is certainly not saying Blake is no longer worth seeing. Still only 25, and still the joint-second fastest man on the planet, Blake has struggled with injury for the last two years, and failed to make the Jamaican team for next month’s World Championships in Beijing.
However, Blake has been on the comeback trail in recent weeks, running 10.20 seconds in Lucerne last week. That is still some way short of the 9.69 Blake ran in Lausanne in August 2012, just weeks after finishing second to Jamaican team mate Usain Bolt in the 100m at the London Olympics.
Only Bolt himself has run quicker, with his world record of 9.58, and while Tyson Gay has also run 9.69, there is no denying Blake's considerable sprinting ability.
So while most of the fastest men on the planet this summer are lined up to compete at this evening’s London Anniversary Games – including Bolt – Blake found himself looking for something a little less high-profile, which is how he came to Dublin.
“We got the call from his agent last weekend to say he was looking for something low key, and our meeting came on the radar,” explains Noel Guidan, the Morton Games meeting director.
“So they just asked us could we put him in. Basically we were in the right place at the right time.”
Small fortune
While Blake’s travel and accommodation is being covered (and from London by the way, not Jamaica), he has not cost the Morton Games the small fortune he might have done three years ago.
Still, he presents the very real potential of running the first ever sub-10 second 100m in this country, particularly with fellow Jamaicans Mario Forsythe, Ramone McKenzie and Michael Frater also lined up this evening.
The star attraction from an Irish perspective is Thomas Barr, who is making his first home appearance in the 400m hurdles since winning the gold medal at the World University Games in Gwangju, South Korea, this month – where he clocked 48.78 seconds.
There is considerable Irish interest elsewhere, particularly in the Morton Mile, where John Travers and Eoin Everard will lead the chase to go under four minutes against the likes of Jordan McNamara (US), Pat Casey (US), Ryan Gregson (Aus), Jeremy Rae (Can) and Riley Masters (US).
