ATHLETICS Christie case symptomatic of malaise

ATHLETICS

BY MIKE ROWBOTTOM

The Barcelona Olympics saw the indoor arena of the Palau Sant Jordi playing host to US basketball's Dream Team - Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson et al. Three years on, as the supposed family of world athletics gathered for its fifth indoor championships, the magic was missing.

Neither Britain nor the International Amateur Athletic Federation were able to field anything remotely like a dream team.

Britain's relative lack of success - only 400 yards from the Olympic stadium which will always be associated with the victories of Linford Christie and Sally Gunnell - is a matter of medal statistics. They have not been so meagrely rewarded at a major championship since 1987, when they picked up one bronze medal at the Indianapolis World Indoor Championships.

But what this troubled event demonstrated above all else was the urgent need for the athletics authorities to reassert control over their sport.

The quality of future British teams at these championships is dependent on the future status of the championships themselves. As things stand, the simple fact is that athletes such as Christie need the event less than the event needs them.

"You can't tell people they have got to do a certain race indoors," Verona Elder, Britain's team manager, said. "The indoor season is a matter of personal preference. It depends on what people have planned for their winter preparation for the outdoor season."

The trick for the IAAF, if it wants to perpetuate its second-highest profile championships, is to make it worth the leading athletes' while to take part.

Primo Nebiolo, the IAAF president, has already said that prize-money will be available at the next world indoor and outdoor championships. That would clearly induce some to compete; whether it would satisfy the television-pleasing superstars is questionable. At which point we move into the area of helpful training grants from the IAAF Foundation.

But other strategies to improve the event are being considered. It may be held earlier in the season next time around to give athletes more of a gap to prepare for the outdoor World Championships.

In the view of Sergei Bubka, the pole vault world record holder, as expressed in Barcelona, the world outdoor and indoor championships should be held in different years.

Another suggestion would be to try to incorporate future world indoor championships into the indoor circuits which have been established this season in Europe and the United States.

The world indoors could maintain their championship status, offering places to all countries within the IAAF. But they could also form an effective Grand Prix final - and lite athletes who had competed on the circuit would have to turn up to earn a proportion of their final earnings.

Something needs to be done to avoid the kind of damaging wrangling in which Christie - partly through his own indecision, partly through the desperation of the organisers - became involved. It would also help the IAAF cause if it could arrange in future for world-class middle-distance runners not to be deported when they arrive to compete, as Venuste Niyongabo was after a problem with his visa.

The only two Britons to gain something tangible from the championships view their achievements very differently. For Darren Braithwaite, a silver medal in the 60 metres could provide the confidence to take him into the top class at sprinting. For Braithwaite's friend and training partner, Tony Jarrett, bronze in the 60m hurdles was a matter of deep disappointment. The fact that he reduced his English record to 7.42sec was only a faint consolation.