Canada’s Keaveney counters allegations from Linz
Brian Keaveney took umbrage at being called a possible “Uniform Nazi,” but he calmly answered the central question posed in my recent post about Linz uniform policing. To wit: Did he challenge the uniforms of female athletes at Linz? Brian, who is president of the Canadian Masters Athletics Association besides being WMA’s vice prez for non-stadia events, says yeah, he did. He wrote me: “According to the WMA regulations, all athletes competing must wear an approved country uniform top. The first event of the non stadia in Linz was the cross country.”
Brian continued:
“Before each run of the day the announcer gave his usual announcements along with the point that each athlete will need to wear their country uniform top. Now, I do not know what each country has as an approved top but it must indicate the country.
“Any athlete who had a T-shirt or top which only showed a sponsor or for example only a Nike symbol was told to find an appropriate top. If they choose not to wear the country top they were told they would be disqualified. This was done before each race. The first race was for older women. Three of the athletes ran with no country top. Two of them were handed a singlet the first lap of the race and wore it the rest of the race.
“One athlete did not. She was disqualified at the end of the race. She later protested
and was granted standing back in the race. I was not part of the protest which was carried out back at the stadium.
“The WMA Handbook is in several languages and it is the responsibility of the athlete to know these rules as well as all rules in the IAAF Rule book which pertain to their event. The announcements continued throughout the cross country races and were also given before all other non stadia races. Athletes were alerted at the start lines when they checked in. The problem did not continue. Athletes used their country tops.
“This is the story. It has nothing to do with whether an athlete was male or female. I was simply applying the rules which are in place. The championships in Riccione will use the same rules and any which have changed since Linz. Please read your handbook. WMA Handbooks can be purchased from National Masters News and through your country Masters Association.
“I hope this is a sufficient answer to your question on uniforms in Linz.”
Brian Keaveney
President CMAA
Presidente de la Región de Norte, Centroamérica
y el Caribe – WMA
President of North, Central America and the Caribbean WMA
VP Ontario Masters T & F Assoc.
WMA VP Non Stadia
Technical Advisor Toronto Track and Field Centre
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