Paula Radcliffe, photo by PhotoRun.net
LONDON (GBR): Women’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe is opposed to the proposal made by UK Athletics for the world records to be reset, report PA Sport. “Without doubt you are going to punish innocent athletes, so why do it again when they have already had to compete against cheats during their career?” questioned Radcliffe. “I’ll never agree with the records being wiped because I know 100 per cent that at least one of those records was achieved clean and that means more were too.” Radcliffe said that she would prefer to see the entire competitive records, of athletes found guilty of doping, be cleared.
Editor’s note: Paula Radcliffe’s feelings would not be unusual for a record holder. UK Athletics is trying to not only start a dialogue, but, in my mind, to challenge Seb Coe to reach beyond his daily battling over IAAF failings over the past decade and a half.
Some reports credit Seb Coe with interest in deleting selected records. Among those are the records of Florence Griffith Joyer, Randy Barners and Marita Koch.
It makes sense to delete selected records, but who makes those decisions?