PAULA OUTRAGE
Radcliffe hits out at ‘cowardly’ plan to rewrite world records
PAUlA RAdcliffE and Jonathan Edwards could lose their world records because of a ‘revolutionary’ but controversial proposal which appears to have the backing of lord coe.
Some of the world records, particularly those set by female athletes known to have been supported by national doping programmes, have long undermined the credibility of the sport.
But European Athletics bosses are exploring the possibility of only recognising performances set by athletes whose samples have been stored and can therefore be re-tested.
However, samples have only been stored since 2005, which means Radcliffe’s 2003 marathon record and Edwards’ 1995 triple jump mark are in jeopardy. As is colin Jackson’s 1994 indoor 60m hurdles world record.
Radcliffe last night called the proposals ‘cowardly’ and ‘a slapdash attempt for good PR’. She added: ‘i am hurt and do feel this damages my reputation and dignity.’
The proposal is clearly designed to target some of the women’s world records that for decades have proved beyond the reach of generations of world- class athletes.
Marita Koch emerged from the East German system to set a 400m world record that has stood since 1985. Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 800m best has stood since 1983. And the 100m and 200m records of florence Griffith Joyner date back to 1988.
Svein Arne Hansen, the European Athletics president behind the initiative, said world records ‘are meaningless if people don’t really believe them’.
His body formed a taskforce to examine the credibility of the world records earlier this year and wants the iAAf, the world governing body, to adopt the changes it sets out. coe, the iAAf president, said it was ‘ a step in the right direction’.
coe added: ‘ There will be athletes, current record holders, who will feel that the history we are recalibrating will take something away from them, but if organised and structured properly we have a good chance of winning back credibility in this area.’ Hansen will urge the iAAf to adopt the proposal at their August council meeting. He said: ‘What we are proposing is revolutionary and not just because most world and European records will have to be replaced. We want to raise the standards for recognition to a point where everyone can be confident that everything is fair and above board.’
RAdcliffE clearly disagrees despite being the vice-chairwoman of the iAAf athletes’ commission. ‘Governing bodies have a duty to protect every clean athlete, here they again fail those athletes,’ she said. ‘We had to compete against cheats, they couldn’t provide us a level playing field, we lost out on medals, moments and earnings due to cheats, saw our sport dragged through the mud due to cheats and now, thanks to those who cheat we potentially lose our world and area records.
‘i am hurt and do feel this damages my reputation and dignity. it is a heavy-handed way to wipe out some really suspicious records in a cowardly way by simply sweeping all aside instead of having the guts to take the legal plunge and wipe any record that would be found in a court of law to have been illegally assisted.’