129 powerful U.S. athletes to compete in Daegu championships

SEOUL, Aug. 11 (Yonhap) -- The United States will dispatch 129 track and field athletes to the upcoming World Championships in Athletics in South Korea, an American athletics governing body said Thursday.
USA Track & Field (USATF) said it has finalized a 129-strong squad for the Aug. 27-Sept. 4 championships in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The American team is led by eight 2009 champions who won gold medals at the previous world championships in Berlin, the USATF said.
Allyson Felix, three time women's 200 meter winner, will compete in three events -- 200 meters, 400 meters and 1,600 meters.
LaShawn Merritt, the Olympic and world men's 400 meter champion, is eligible to run in Daegu after completing a 21-month-long doping suspension.
Other key players on the team include long jumper Brittney Reese, hurdler David Oliver, decathlete Ashton Eaton, high jumper Jesse Williams, women's sprinters Carmelita Jeter and Shalonda Solomon and pole vaulter Jenn Suhr.
The U.S. has ranked first since the international athletics championship began in 1983, winning a total of 120 gold medals in the previous races.