Today's World Junior Championships in Beijing will be the springboard for many young athletes vying for a start in the 2008 Olympics.

Women's pole vault world recorder holder Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia, Swedish women's heptathlon athlete Carolina Kluft and Ethiopian long distance runner Meseret Defar are among those who starring in the juniors and duplicated their success at the 2004 Athens Olympics or World Championships.

Last summer 16 athletes, whom became World Championship gold medallists in Helsinki, had been finalists at the World Juniors.

Today in Beijing, another generation of athletes from 182 countries and regions are looking to follow the footsteps.

China, who sends a 79-member squad, has five athletes who won world youth titles last year stepping up an age group and looking for success in front of a home audience. However, the Beijing Olympics are likely to come around too soon in their careers for them to make the China 2008 team.

The athlete grabbing the most attention is high jumper Huang Haiqiang, whom many are predicting will eventually surpass the longstanding Asian, and former world record, held by his compatriot Zhu Jianhua.

A total of 1451 athletes will take part in this week's event.

"We will be looking ahead a couple of years to the Olympic Games, particularly since past evidence suggests that two years is long enough for a World Junior Champion to turn into an Olympic Champion," said Lamine Diack, president of the sport's governing body IAAF.

"I am particularly looking forward to seeing how well the Chinese juniors perform because that nation has a tradition of producing excellent young talents such as the 110 hurdles Olympic champion and world record holder Liu Xiang, who finished fourth at the World Junior Championship in 2000."

"The IAAF World Junior Championships has been a crucial barometer for the health of our sport, because without top level competition opportunities from a young age, it is extremely difficult for athletes to learn how to cope with the extreme pressure of a World Championship in athletics or Olympic Games."

Source: China Daily