The man responsible for attempting to rewrite athletics’ record books said that "doing so will create new household names and expand the sport’s appeal after decades of doping," according to Josh Burrows of the LONDON TIMES. Pierce O'Callaghan was "given the task of proposing ways to create a new set of world records after ranting about the topic one day" while in the company of IAAF President Sebastian Coe and European Athletics President Svein Arne Hansen. O'Callaghan said, "This is part of the effort to regain trust and accountability which should have been done ages ago but there wasn’t the will. Under Svein Arne Hansen, the will exists to tackle wrongs from the past." If the record books are rewritten to exclude any times and distances set before '05, the "onus is on European Athletics to take the lead" because a large number of "controversial records" were set by East German and Soviet Union athletes in the '80s, when use of performance-enhancing drugs is "thought to have been widespread." O'Callaghan said, "You can always put your head in the sand and move on but we’re at the stage now where we can’t even mark the European record [in the sand or the grass] for some of the field events. We don’t even put the European record on the screen for some of the races. In the women’s 400 meters, the time set by Marita Koch in 1985 is going to be two and a half seconds quicker than the best on the planet 30 years on" (LONDON TIMES, 5/2). The BBC reported British athletes who "may lose their world records have received an apology from the man responsible." O'Callaghan said that Paula Radcliffe, Jonathan Edwards and Colin Jackson are among "collateral damage." He said, "There is a bigger picture out there. ... Apologies to the athletes, we never intended to damage their reputation and legacy. It is intended to give the public belief and credibility in what they are watching in the sport." But BBC athletics commentator and former world 1,500m champion Steve Cram called the proposals an "easy route out" and "a PR exercise" (BBC, 5/2).
RADCLIFFE FURIOUS: In London, Ben Bloom reported Radcliffe "reacted furiously to news she could be stripped of her marathon world record." The IAAF has stored blood and urine samples only since '05, with "any records set before that date in danger of being expunged." That would include Radcliffe's marathon world record of 2 hours, 15 minutes, 25 seconds, which she set in '03, and Edwards' '95 triple jump mark of 18.29m. Radcliffe accused the sport’s governing bodies of "failing" athletes, questioning whether records set recently "could be trusted any more than those of 20 years ago." In a statement, she said, "Governing bodies have a duty to protect every clean athlete, here they again fail those athletes. We had to compete against cheats, they could not 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 chose to cheat we potentially lose our world and area records" (TELEGRAPH, 5/1).
'INJUSTICE': In Sydney, Phil Lutton reported Athletics Australia said that it would be an "injustice" for athletes to be stripped of their pre-'05 world records. While the IAAF would "eliminate tainted records from Eastern Bloc nations with histories of systemic doping, it would also scrap some of the most famous records in athletics." AA backed the stance of Radcliffe, saying that it "supported the notion of better doping control but not at the expense of clean athletes whose world marks deserved to stand the test of time." In a statement, AA said, "The European Athletics Council proposal that calls for higher technical standards, increased doping control measures and new personal integrity requirements for record holders is, in principle, a step in the right direction. ... However, it is crucial that any changes implemented retrospectively seriously consider the impact on the countless number of athletes who have achieved their world or area record by completing clean and adhering to the rules" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 5/2).
