Pre-2005 world records to be wiped out under proposal

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND » The man spearheading a proposal to wipe out all world records achieved in athletics before 2005 says it will mark the start of a “new, clean, credible era” for a sport tainted by doping scandals.

“It’s just the evolution of the sport,” Pierce O’Callaghan, chairman of the European Athletics task force, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “We had feet and inches, changed from miles to kilometers, hand timing to electronic timing. All of those different areas forced a recalibration of the records. This is just a recalibration for the 21st century.”

World-record holders such as former marathon runner Paula Radcliffe and ex-triple jumper Jonathan Edwards have reacted with dismay following European Athletics’ announcement that its ruling council had accepted a project team’s recommendations to rewrite world and European record lists.

The European body said it would now forward the recommendations to the IAAF for ratification in July, ahead of the world championship in London. IAAF president Sebastian Coe said it was a “step in the right direction.”

Under the new standards, described as “radical” by European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen, a world record would only be recognized if the performance met three criteria: it was achieved at a competition on a list of approved international events; the athlete had been subject to an agreed number of doping control tests in the months leading up to it; and the doping control sample taken after the record was stored and available for re-testing for 10 years.