Darth Thanatos
05-19-2006, 12:31 PM
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/other_sports/14606782.htm
Gatlin has to share record
TIMING ERROR BUMPS HIS 100-METER TIME UP TO 9.77 SECONDS
Mercury News Wire Services
The most intense rivalry in sprinting gathered steam Wednesday when the world's fastest man turned out to be the world's fastest men.
Because of a timing error, Olympic champion Justin Gatlin didn't break the world 100-meter mark last weekend after all. Instead, he now shares track's most coveted record with Jamaican Asafa Powell, who set it at 9.77 seconds last year.
They'll get their first chance to start sorting it out May 28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. -- just not in the same race.
Both will run 100 meters at the Prefontaine Classic, but the event will be divided into two eight-man fields, with Gatlin in one and Powell in the other. The two can't race against each other because they are contractually obligated -- for a high fee -- to a match race June 11 at the Norwich British Union Grand Prix in Gateshead, England.
Gatlin, the 24-year-old American who won the Olympic 100 gold medal in Athens and is the reigning 100 and 200 world champion, was told he had broken the record with a 9.76-second clocking in Doha, Qatar, on Friday night.
But the sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, announced Wednesday that there had been a timing error, and Gatlin actually ran 9.77, matching Powell's record set in Athens, Greece, on June 14, 2005.
The IAAF said Gatlin was clocked in 9.766 seconds, and the official reading should manually have been rounded up to 9.77. Under IAAF rules, a time is always rounded up to the next one-hundredth of a second.
Gatlin didn't grant interviews Wednesday, but a statement he released through USA Track & Field showed he was perturbed that it took so long to get it right.
``It is very disappointing to me that it has taken five days to determine the official time of a race with this significance,'' he said. ``I remain confident that I am the world's fastest man and I look forward to proving it once again. My parents raised me to be a good sport, but I don't want to share the world record.''
Gatlin has to share record
TIMING ERROR BUMPS HIS 100-METER TIME UP TO 9.77 SECONDS
Mercury News Wire Services
The most intense rivalry in sprinting gathered steam Wednesday when the world's fastest man turned out to be the world's fastest men.
Because of a timing error, Olympic champion Justin Gatlin didn't break the world 100-meter mark last weekend after all. Instead, he now shares track's most coveted record with Jamaican Asafa Powell, who set it at 9.77 seconds last year.
They'll get their first chance to start sorting it out May 28 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. -- just not in the same race.
Both will run 100 meters at the Prefontaine Classic, but the event will be divided into two eight-man fields, with Gatlin in one and Powell in the other. The two can't race against each other because they are contractually obligated -- for a high fee -- to a match race June 11 at the Norwich British Union Grand Prix in Gateshead, England.
Gatlin, the 24-year-old American who won the Olympic 100 gold medal in Athens and is the reigning 100 and 200 world champion, was told he had broken the record with a 9.76-second clocking in Doha, Qatar, on Friday night.
But the sport's governing body, the International Association of Athletics Federations, announced Wednesday that there had been a timing error, and Gatlin actually ran 9.77, matching Powell's record set in Athens, Greece, on June 14, 2005.
The IAAF said Gatlin was clocked in 9.766 seconds, and the official reading should manually have been rounded up to 9.77. Under IAAF rules, a time is always rounded up to the next one-hundredth of a second.
Gatlin didn't grant interviews Wednesday, but a statement he released through USA Track & Field showed he was perturbed that it took so long to get it right.
``It is very disappointing to me that it has taken five days to determine the official time of a race with this significance,'' he said. ``I remain confident that I am the world's fastest man and I look forward to proving it once again. My parents raised me to be a good sport, but I don't want to share the world record.''