The IAAF seems to have done a very sensible thing in a stupendously clumsy way (Radcliffe and Edwards fury at ‘cowardly’ plan to strip athletics records, Sport, 2 May). By discounting the records of athletes rather than merely drawing a line from today, they have upset those athletes, the very heroes who provide that inspiration for future generations that is missing elsewhere. The decision makes sense only if you consider that most athletics records last for about four years, as all major games will have gone through a cycle in that time. Only the truly long-lived records, therefore, are in question.
But if we are to question Paula Radcliffe’s and Jonathan Edward’s records, where – with the IAAF’s logic – do we stop? If Mike Powell’s 8.95m long jump doesn’t fit the new rules, the same must apply to Bob Beamon’s 8.9m in the Mexico Olympics. Closer to home on the same logic, do we now question whether Roger Bannister actually beat the four-minute mile? It’s time for the IAAF to make an Olympic effort and reconsider at record-breaking speed.
Gary Osborne
Keighley, West Yorkshire
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