Date:02/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/08/02/stories/2008080260941800.htm

Sport - Athletics

USATF asks for relay record to be re-examined

CHICAGO: USA Track & Field (USATF) chief executive Doug Logan on Thursday asked for the American men’s 4x400-metres record, which is also the world record, to be re-examined in light of recent doping revelations.

The relay team of Jerome Young, Antonio Pettigrew, Tyree Washington and Michael Johnson ran 2:54.20 on July 22 1998 in Uniondale but Pettigrew in May admitted to engaging in doping activities dating back to 1997.

As part of Pettigrew’s penalty, issued on June 3, 2008, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) invalidated all his results starting in 1997 — a time frame that includes the 4x400m relay record.

Mr. Logan has written to the USATF Men’s Track & Field chairman John Chaplin to request that the record is brought up for reconsideration at the domestic governing body’s 2008 annual meeting scheduled for December 3-7 in Reno, Nevada.

However, USATF only has the power to annul a national record — for the world record to be altered the IAAF, the sport’s international governing body, would need to rule.

“Removing this record is the right thing to do, pure and simple,” Mr. Logan said in a statement.