Clermont-Ferrand world indoor records still up in the air
Under World Masters Athletics policies, world records set at WMA world meets are automatically recognized without the hoop-jumping required of athletes in other meets. Well, maybe not. According to a post this week on the WMA Web site, Sandy Pashkin is calling for more confirmation info before certifying records set at the recent Clermont-Ferrand world indoor championships in France. She writes: “Please, will the Meeting Manager for Clermont-Ferrand or the managers of Great Britain, France and Portugal email me with the missing information below? My new email is: spashkin@q.com I will update the records as soon as I receive the information.â€
Sandy says she’s missing dates of birth for Britain’s Andrew Lewis and French athletes Jean-Luc Duez and Patrick Chala. Also she’s missing the names and running order for the M45 French 4×200 team and the M55 British 4×200 squad.
She also writes: “Is Mana Alice Silva Fernandes and Silva Fernandez Maria Alice the same person from Portugal? (And) what is her name for the record listing?â€
Andrew apparently set an M40 pentathlon world record of 4,155 points at Clermont-Ferrand with these marks: 8.48 60 hurdles (1007), 6.76 long jump (937), 12.96 shot (686), 1.88 high jump (868) and 3:11.24 1000 meters (657). That beat the listed WR of 3977 by American Greg Foster at Sindelfingen worlds in 2004.
Jean-Luc may have tied a WR record in the M45 pentathlon of 4,062 points with these marks 9.12 (944), 6.09m (854), 10.30m (574), 1.77m (850) and 3:00.75 (840). The listed record, also by Greg Foster, is 4062 at Boston nationals in 2007.
Patrick’s WR is in the M60 5KG shot — 16.61 (54-6), beating the listed indoor WR of 16.57 (54-4 1/2) by Germany’s Kurt Goldschmidt at Sindelfingen.
Well, it’s nice to have all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed with respect to these marks, but why has it taken a month to get this information, forcing Sandy to publicly embarrass several national governing bodies in the process? This shouldn’t take as long as a Zimbabwean presidential election.
And why didn’t the French meet organizers have all this info vetted in the first place? Is it possible people competed in France without their ages being verified?
Now that’s a scandal.
One Response
“Also she’s missing the names and running order for the M45 French 4×200 team and the M55 British 4×200 squad.”
Well, I sincerely hope she does not find anything irregular. There is an unfortunate precedent here. If I had followed the illegal orders of the British Team Manager at 2006 WMA Linz, the names of the actual runners in the British M65 4x200m relay team would not have tallied with the names on the final relay composition list from the Call Room.
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