Rieti, Italy - Just one week after the end of the Athletics competitions of the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad in Athens, Rieti hosts its traditional IAAF Grand Prix meeting at the Raul Guidobaldi stadium on Sunday 5 September.

The organisers have once again assembled a great afternoon of competition in Rieti where six World records and three European all- time bests have been set during the glorious history of this meeting.

This year's offering includes some of the new Olympic champions and other tempting post Olympic re-matches.

Kipketer takes on the South Africans and Yiampoy

Famous World records set by Steve Ovett (3:30.77 in the 1500 metres), Nourreddine Morceli (3:28.86 in the 1500 metres and 3:44.39 in the mile) and Daniel Komen (7:20.67 in the 3000 metres) have made Rieti known as the Italian "temple of middle distance running", and Rieti is trying it very best to live up to its reputation this year.

This is one of the favourite meetings for the 800 metres World record holder Wilson Kipketer, who set the track record of 1:41.83 in 1996 and won here in 1:42.32 in 2002. In one of the last races of his glorious career Kipketer, the Olympic bronze medallist in Athens, will face strong South African opposition led by the Olympic silver medallist and World indoor champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and the 1996 Olympic silver Hezekiel Sepeng who was sixth in Athens.

William Yiampoy, the African champion, who was second in the A race at the Zurich Golden League meeting with an impressive 1:43.29 but absent at the Athens Olympics because he finished fourth in the Kenyan Trials, will use Rieti as a re-match race. Italy's Andrea Longo has become a local favourite since he run 1:43.74 in Rieti in 2000 and will pursue a fast time on Sunday.

Samitova - World record bid?

Another middle-distance running highlight is the women's 3000 steeplechase race. Russia's Gulnara Samitova smashed her own World record over the distance with 9:01.59 at the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Iraklio (Greece) on 4 July.

Unable to race the discipline in Athens as it has yet to be added to the Olympic programme Samitova, the World Indoor bronze medallist in the 1500 metres in Budapest last March and sixth in the 5000 metres Olympic final in Athens, will attack the 9 minutes barrier in Rieti.

The line-up offers the 'who's who' of this discipline with Samitova's compatriot Lyubov Ivanova (9:24.78 - fourth in the all-time list), the Kenyan Salome Chepchumba (seventh in the all-time list with 9:29.81), Romania's Cristina Casandra (PB 9:31.96), the US champion Ann Gaffigan, Belgium's Sigrid Vanden Bempt (seventh in the world seasonal list with 9:35.28) and Hungary's Livia Toth (PB 9:39.84).

Sanchez fulfils promise

Felix Sanchez fulfills his promise to return to Rieti as 400 metres Hurdles Olympic champion after last year's win in 48.62. The star from the Dominican Repubblic, who won the Olympic title in his seasonal best of 47.63 in Athens for his 43 victory in a row, will be in Rieti for the second time in his career just two days after competing in the TDK Golden League in Brussels on Friday, where he will try to continue his quest for a share of the TDK Golden League Jackpot.

Powell versus Collins at the dash

The 100 metres dash features the clash between Jamaica's sprint revelation Asafa Powell and the reigning World champion Kim Collins from St. Kitts and Nevis. Asafa Powell revealed his potential after his impressive 10.00 win in Lausanne and his double victory over the 2000 Olympic champion Maurice Greene in London (9.91) and Zurich (9.93) but had to content with fifth place in 9.94 in one of the greatest ever 100 metres Olympic finals.

Powell will attempt to repeat last year's win in Rieti in 10.12. His main contender is Kim Collins who put his small country of St.Kitts and Nevis on the map of world athletics with his World title in 10.07 in Paris in 2003. Collins has had an ups-and down season so far but has showed to have returned to good form when he run the Olympic final in 10.00, just two hundredths of a second off his PB set in 2002. The 100 metres track record of 9.99 set by Jon Drummond in 1994 will be under threat on Sunday afternoon. The Italian interest is represented by this year's 60 metres World Indoor finalist Simone Collio.

Jones to Long Jump

Marion Jones, the three times Sydney Olympic champion who left Athens empty handed, will make her first appearance in Rieti. The US star who leapt to a PB of 7.31 in 1998 will compete in the Long Jump in Rieti following on from her fifth place finish in Athens. The Cuban-born Italian Magdelin Martinez, World Triple Jump bronze medallist in Paris with 14.90 and seventh in the Olympic final in Athens with 14.85, will be also be in the Long Jump line-up in Rieti. It is a favourite venue for the Italian Triple Jump record holder (15.03), who set her first Italian best of 14.73 here in 2002 and won again last year with 14.88, a few days after her bronze medal in Paris. Martinez, who has competed very sparingly in the past in the Long Jump, jumped 6.57 this year at the Italian Club Championships in Casal del Marmo.

Olympic champion versus World gold medallist in Pole Vault

The Italian pole vault hero Giuseppe Gibilisco won Olympic bronze medal in Athens with a first clearance of 5.85 (the second best performance of his career, five centimetres off his italian record of 5.90 set at the World Championships in Paris) behind the USA's Timothy Mack and Toby Stevenson.

For the pole vaulter born in Siracusa but based in Formia, Rieti represents an opportunity of a re-match against Mack who set the Olympic record of 5.95 after a very consistent season which saw him win at the Olympic Trials in Sacramento and at the TDK Golden League meeting in Zurich. The reigning European champion Alexandr Avebukh from Israel, eighth in Athens but with a seasonal best of 5.85, completes a great line-up.

Matt Hemingway, Olympic silver medallist in the men's High Jump with 2.34 on countback, has also arrived in Rieti some days in advance to prepare Sunday's competition.