All due respect to the Olympic sports that have been progressing for the past week in Athens but, as of today, athletics fans across the world are shouting: ?Let the Games begin ? finally!?

As Greece?s countdown to the start of the Games concluded last Friday another one began ? to the beginning of the athletics programme.

The salivation is over and it?s time for action as the showpiece of the Olympics ? track and field ? kicks off this morning at the Olympic Stadium.

Interestingly and uncommonly, the marquee races ? the men and women?s 100 metres ? have been split with the ladies running two rounds today and two more tomorrow. The men, including Bermuda?s Xavier James, get underway tomorrow with the shoot-out for sprinting supremacy and the title of the Fastest Man on earth slated for 11.10 p.m. (5.10 p.m. Bermuda time) on Sunday.

For all his heartening ambition, James is not expected to figure in the shorter sprint and would have to produce a stellar performance just to fulfil his hopes of reaching the quarter or semi-finals.

?I want to run a personal best and a new national record and to make it to the quarters or semis,? he declared confidently yesterday, after a training session and a visit to Olympic Stadium where he will run.

?I am the sixth Bermudian to run in the 100 at the Olympics and only one has made it past the first round. That was Dennis Trott in 1976.?

The 28-year-old also wants to establish the fastest time by a Bermudian at the Summer Games in the showpiece event. The current top 100-metre mark by a local at the Games is 10.69 seconds by Bill Trott in 1988.

?I expect to do that in the first round. I?m just trying to keep loose and fired up. I?m ready to run,? said James who walked the length of the 100-metre stretch while at the competition venue.

Meanwhile, there is great anticipation in the Caribbean for, though they compete individually, this relatively small cluster of islands is expecting big things from its collective contingents of track athletes.

There is a more than good chance that when the dust ? and there?s plenty of that in the dry Greek capital ? settles come August 29, the region could well boast the fastest men and women in the world.

The athletics assault will be led by Jamaica ? the traditional powerhouse in regional track and field ? with the likes of Asafa Powell, Usain Bolt, Veronica Campbell and Tayna Lawrence in the vanguard.

Powell, who has been in blistering form in recent Grand Prix meets, is aiming for a sprint double not achieved at the Olympics since Carl Lewis in Los Angeles in 1984.

The 21-year-old will also be seeking redemption for his disqualification from the 100 finals at last year?s World Championships in Paris.

Trinidad & Tobago?s 100-metre fortunes reside in the experience of Ato Boldon ? possibly in his final Olympics ? and newcomer Marc Burns who has tasted success at World Junior level.

However, the man who was really expected to do the damage for the twin-island republic, Darrel Brown, has withdrawn from the event in which he took silver at Worlds. Citing a lack of fitness due to a back injury, Brown has stood down from the individual event in the hope that he will be well enough to be part of his country?s sprint relay quartet, a race in which they are serious medal contenders.

Also in the men?s 100-metre mix is the reigning World and Commonwealth champion Kim Collins of St. Kitts-Nevis who has a knack of putting together the perfect race at the perfect time. A surprise finalist in 2000, he is another one to watch from the West Indies.

Returning to the fray also is the bronze medallist from Sydney, Obadele Thompson of Barbados, who says he is confident and ready to run ?very fast?.

Some Bermudians will take more than a passing interest in his progress as his mother, Hilda, is from the Island and he has numerous relatives here including a brother, niece, nephew and aunt.

The Caribbean women may feel it is finally time for one of them to wear the title of Fastest Woman with the likes of 2000 gold and silver medallists, Marion Jones of the USA and Greece?s Katerina Thanou respectively, not in the mix.

Debbie Ferguson and Chandra Sturrup ? both beaten finalists Down Under ? will be hoping to match their triumph in the Olympic relay, as members of The Bahamas? victorious 4x100-metre team, with some personal glory.

Both have expressed quiet confidence.

Jamaica?s Tayna Lawrence already has the bronze from Sydney and will be looking for a medal of greater significance in her 100-metre campaign. Her team-mate Veronica Campbell ? the only female to win the sprint double at World Juniors (2000) ? is also optimistic about her chances.

?I think it?s a very open race and whoever executes best on the day will win. I feel very good about my chances,? said the 22-year-old who is entered for both sprints.

Another familiar face on the line in Athens, but not in her native colours this time, will be Jamaican sprinting icon Merlene Ottey. The idol of so many of these runners against whom she will battle, the 44-year-old?s allegiance in her seventh Olympic Games will be to her adopted country, Slovenia.

No-nonsense in her approach to competition, the winner of eight Olympic medals has stated in no uncertain terms that she is not here to sightsee but to reach her fifth 100-metre final and cause the world?s top sprinters some problems.

?I?m not going there because it?s the seventh. I?d like to get my times improved and to see how far I can go. Hopefully, I can be pushing the favourites to their limits,? she said.

Since winning a bronze medal in the 200 metres on her Olympic debut in Moscow 24 years ago, Ottey has accumulated three silvers and five bronzes. The gold, though, still eludes her.

She will contest both sprints and believes an injury-free season ? in which she has best times of 11.09 seconds for the 100 and 23.06 seconds for the 200 ? is a positive omen for her. However, she is taking things one step at a time. ?I?m not thinking about medals yet. On paper, at the moment, I am in the semi-finals (of the 100 metres). The goal now is to beat seven other people to get to the finals.

?I know I?m in good shape for the 200, but I need a bit of confidence because in the last few years I have done nothing,? Ottey said.

Talking about the 200 metres, the region will be eagerly awaiting the start of that event on August 24 to see if the awesome promise shown by Usain Bolt in recent years will reveal itself on the highest of athletics stages.

The teenage sensation, who still has Bermudians agog with his spectacular 19.93 seconds at the Carifta Games in April, should be a certain medallist. However, injury has curtailed his training, thwarting his defence of his World Junior crown in July, and his inclusion in Jamaica?s squad was only confirmed at the 11th hour.

Bolt?s fitness and race status is a mystery as hamstring woes have kept him from major competition since his heroics at the National Sports Centre.

That nobody ? including himself ? knows what he is capable of right now could be a blessing in disguise, he thinks.

?I haven?t been on the circuit for a while and that may help a bit. They will be wondering how good I am, how fit I am. I have an element of surprise.

?Right now I know I?m 100 percent and I?ll give it my all.?

Bolt?s all is usually good enough. The youngest ever World Junior champion at age 15, his 19.93 remains the second-fastest 200 time this year and would have earned him gold in Sydney and at last year?s World Championships.

Despite being sidelined, that feat has spurred him on.

?Breaking the (world junior) record gave me a big boost. I realised I could compete with the big athletes and it pushed me to train harder. It was great to know I was right up there,? said the towering six-foot-five runner who turns 18 tomorrow.

Other Caribbean names to watch will be Grenada?s Alleyne Francique and Tonique Williams-Darling of The Bahamas, both favoured in the 400 metres.

The former has been the talk of the town since wresting the indoor title and taking that sterling form into the outdoor season while Williams-Darling has given Mexico?s Ana Guevera something to think about of late on the Grand Prix circuit.

Though nothing is a sure bet in the Olympics, Felix Sanchez, 26, is as good a prospect for gold as they come. The man who has owned the 400-metre hurdles for the past three seasons, and is the self-proclaimed ?Superman? of athletics, should deliver for the Dominican Republic in his pet event.