MONTE CARLO, MON -- With a long Olympic campaign behind them, 21 Olympic champions and another 52 silver and bronze medallists have converged on the Riviera to wind down their seasons at the second World Athletics Final this weekend.

Topping the distance field is double Olympic champion Kelly Holmes who will contest the 1500 on Saturday. Fatigue is a common theme among the athletes, managers, trainers and media assembled here this weekend, and for the Briton, it has not only stemmed from her non-stop commitments after her 800/1500 Olympic double.

"It's been tiring physically and psychologically," the 34-year-old said. "I had to run six races in Athens, and I had to stay very, very focused for that whole time. So I had that tiredness going into post-Athens, along with everything that was happening at home, which was absolutely brilliant." Holmes has become England's biggest celebrity, making the rounds on countless television programs between public appearances too numerous to count. "So my body's just not recovered from everything. But it's been a long season for everybody. For me personally," Holmes added, "it's been the longest season I've had in whole career, because I've been injury-free, and because I did the indoor season as well as the outdoor season. So I think my body's been pretty affected by all of it."

But following up on her race in Berlin last Sunday, where she finished second to Russian Tatyana Tomashova, Holmes said there's plenty at stake here.

"Obviously, like Tomashova, I'd like to head the world rankings in the 1500, and it's going to be a big battle to do it." Holmes indicated that Saturday's 1500 may not be her last track of the year. "If I feel okay on Sunday, then I might turn up in the 800. But we'll see." Her last race of the year will be at next weekend's BUPA Great North Run road mile in Newcastle, England.

Monte Carlo Notebook:

--Tonique Williams-Darling, who captured half of the million dollar Golden League jackpot with her win in Berlin last weekend, admitted that her undefeated 2004 outdoor season can be likened to a fairytale.

"It's definitely a dream come true, to have the type of year that I've had," said the Bahamian, whose 49.07 in Berlin was yet another national record. "all the things that happened in one year.. I think that's what most athletes try to accomplish in their whole career."

Can another head-to-head with Mexican Ana Guevara, who was second to her in Athens and Berlin, finally push her to sub-49 second territory? "I definitely think it's a possibility, just the fact that we're not running rounds. We're all very fit, and we're ready to push ourselves to really fast times." Asked about the bodysuit Guevara wore in Berlin, Williams- Darling added, laughing, "If she puts on that suit, I definitely think we'll push 48 seconds, because she means business when she has it on." ...

Sprint newcomers winding down

The two hottest sprinters of the year emerged from Jamaica: Asafa Powell on the men's side and Veronica Campbell, the Olympic gold medallist in the 200, on the women's. Both will double in Monaco.

After eight sub 10-second races, Powell said, "I'm really happy with my season, although I never got the Olympic medal. This was my first Olympics, I made the final and I got fifth, so I'm real happy with that. I got a lot of time to recover from this." Powell scorched to a 9.87 win in Brussels two weeks ago, another national record. "I'm real tired and I'm ready to go home, but even with all the tiredness, I think I can run real fast here - sub-10 for sure."

The 22-year-old Campbell, who also captured the bronze in the 100 and anchored the victorious 400 meter relay, flew in from Fayetteville, Arkansas on Thursday for one last brief respite from her studies at the University of Arkansas.

"I'm just here to finish out a great season and have fun," she said, adding that she's had little time to revel in her achievements. "It's a really good feeling, and it's really exciting, but I didn't let it get to my head too much. Since I got back, I think I looked at that medal, maybe twice."

Johnson ready to bounce back

Allen Johnson, who literally fell short of a third successive Olympic final appearance, said he's over his Olympic letdown.

"It was a major disappointment for my season, but I feel like I've had a really good season this year," the 1996 Olympic champion said. "I won most of my races this year, and I've run fast. So it's been a good year. And I hope to run a little bit faster here."

But Johnson added that he's already looking forward to next season.

"Unfortunately for my event, none of the Olympic medallists will be competing [in Monaco]. And that's what I was really looking forward to because the competitor in me wishes I would have been in the final, and I want to try to find some way to duplicate that competition. So it's really more motivation for next year now."

Commitments at home kept Xiang Lui, who equaled the world record of 12.91 to capture the Olympic title, away from not only last weekend's ISTAF meet in Berlin, but precluded a trip to Monaco as well.

"His commitments in China have been extreme," said manager Mark Wetmore last weekend. "Right now he's in the middle of a tour of major cities in China. It was absolutely impossible for him to be here."

Other notable absences include Marion Jones in the long jump, whose season ended two weeks ago due to back problems, and 100 meter gold medallist Yulia Nesterenko. The 25-year-old Belorussian has still not bounced back from an intestinal illness that required hospitalization two weeks ago.

And while on the topic

Confirming a published report in the Polish newspaper Przeglad Sportowy last weekend, TPR correspondents in Poland reported that Nesterenko tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol at a Polish League meet in Biala Podlaska on 29-May, 2002. Since the test was conducted by an non-accredited lab, no action was taken.

Competing under her maiden name, Bartsevich, for the Polish club, AZS-AWF Biala Podlaska, Nesterenko won the 100 meters in 11.39. The Belorussian athletics federation was informed of the test result, but took no action because the Warsaw lab conducting the test was not certified at the time by the International Olympic Committee. Without IOC, and now, World Anti-Doping Agency certification, the test finding and any subsequent ban was only valid within Poland. Even if valid, any ban she might have received would have ended prior to her participation in Athens.

According to WADA spokesman Frederic Donze, the Warsaw lab has since applied for accreditation, a process that can last from 12 months to two years. According to published reports in Poland, the lab is within weeks of receiving WADA certification.

In Athens, Nesterenko was the definition of consistency. With her opening round 10.94, she finally dipped under 11 seconds, where she has since remained. After a second round 10.99, she preceded her 10.93 gold medal performance with another personal best, a 10.92 in the semis. She began the year with an 11.29 best from 2003, but got off to a quick start in Rethimno, Greece, in late June, running a national record 11.02.

At her post-race press conference in Athens, Nesterenko, speaking through a translator, said she was tested at least three times in 2004: at the World Indoor Championships in Budapest, where she finished third in the 60 meters; after her win in Rome's Golden Gala Golden League meet in early July; and once out-of-competition...

In the steeple, the "real" Olympic Games?

If any post-Athens race can be dubbed an Olympic "alternative," here, it is clearly the men's steeplechase.

Ezekiel Kemboi, Brimin Kipruto and Paul Kipsiele Koech, the Kenyan trio that swept the podium at last month's Olympic Games, will face off with Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the world's premiere steeplechaser over the past two seasons whose change of allegiance to Qatar last year relegated him to the Olympic sidelines. Shaheen, the former Kenyan Stephen Cherono, comes to the Principality fresh off his 7:53.63 world record in Brussels. There, he handily dispatched Kipsiele Koech and Kipruto into second and fifth place, respectively.

And the winner is...

On Sunday, the IAAF will also bestow its Athlete of the Year honors to the top male and female athletes of the year. The pre-met buzz is that Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva, who upped the world record in the pole vault before, during and after her Olympic triumph, and Kenenisa Bekele, the double Athens medallist, double World Cross Country champion and world record setter in the 5,000 and 10,000 this year, will receive top honors. The bubbly Isinbayeva seems to agree.

"I didn't think about it," she said, when asked who she thinks deserves the top honor, before bursting into laughter. "Because I think it's me!"

The five men's and women's nominees were announced today, chosen first through the 150,000 votes cast via the IAAF website. The winners will be announced Sunday evening following a vote by a panel of the World Athletics Foundation. In addition to Isinbayeva and Bekele, other nominees included discus thrower Virgilijus Alekna, Hicham El Guerrouj, triple jumper Christian Olsson and sprint hurdler Liu Xiang for the men and Campbell, Holmes, Carolina Kluft and Williams-Darling.

Last year, the winning athletes, Hicham El Guerrouj and high jumper Hestrie Cloete, received checks for $100,000 for top billing; this year, no financial reward will be awarded. But an all expense paid weekend on the Riviera does include a guaranteed paycheck. Befitting a setting that epitomizes "posh," more than $2.7 million in prize money will be awarded over the weekend, with a $100,000 world record bonus on offer as well.