Taskforce chief apologises to record holders

INNOCENT ATHLETES worried that their world and European records will be struck off received an apology on Tuesday from the official who proposed the radical anti-doping plan. European Athletics' taskforce chair Pierce O'callaghan said he accepted that some recordbreakers would be "collateral damage" under the measures which suggest resetting pre2005 marks.

The proposal, which was announced by European Athletics on Monday, was immediately condemned by several athletes with Britain's Paula Radcliffe branding it "cowardly".

"Apologies to the athletes, we never intended to damage their reputation and legacy," O'callaghan told BBC Radio.

Under the plan, any athlete breaking a record would have to have been drug-tested many times in the lead-up.

A sample taken afterwards would have to be available for retesting for 10 years.

European Athletics' ruling council has accepted the project team's recommendations, which it wants to be extended to world records.

Radcliffe faces having her 2003 women's marathon world record of two hours 15 minutes 25 seconds expunged, but O'callaghan said there was a bigger picture.

"It (The proposal) is intended to give the public belief and credibility in what they are watching in the sport," he said.

European Athletics will forward a report to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which will study it at its Council meeting in August.

If the proposal is accepted, current records failing to meet the guidelines would no longer be officially sanctioned although they would remain on the "alltime list".

O'callaghan said he had spoken to Radcliffe and Britain's triple jump world record holder Jonathan Edwards, another athlete who could be affected because his mark was set in 1995.