Berlin 2009 - US blast Britain over relay protest

Eurosport - Mon, 24 Aug 15:55:00 2009

The head of US athletics has expressed surprise at the conduct of the Great Britain team at the World Championships.

Charles van Commenee (R) - 0

US Track and Field, headed by chief executive Doug Logan, remain furious with the way officials from UK Athletics behaved in Berlin.

Although both Great Britain and the USA advanced through their men's sprint relay heat with ease on Friday night, the team headed by Charles van Commenee (pictured, right) claimed that an American changeover was illegal.

Officials reviewed the evidence provided by Great Britain and duly disqualified the USA.

Britain then took advantage one night later to claim bronze behind the superior quartets from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

"One of the highest-ranking Brits in all of sport approached me after the men's 100 metre final and openly discussed his admiration for the way Tyson Gay carried himself in defeat, said Logan.

"He described it as the finest display of sportsmanship he had ever seen.

"Having our friends from the playing fields of Eton then file their protest against us certainly hurt."

Logan also claimed his US team - which topped the medal table with 10 golds, six silvers and six bronzes - would never stoop so low.

"There is an element of politics and sportsmanship that goes into any country's decision to lodge or not lodge a protest," he added.

"While our competitive status makes us targets, it also makes us hesitant to file protests against other countries' athletes, except when medals or the ability of our athletes to advance through the rounds is at stake.

"For instance, in the men's 110m hurdle heats here in Berlin, a competitor had clearly run in one of our athlete's lanes.

"But because our athlete qualified with no problem, we didn't file a protest. It simply would be bad international relations."

But Van Commenee - who was delighted with a haul of six medals in Berlin, one more than a pre-championship prediction that had looked optimistic - hit back.

He claimed Great Britain did not lodge a protest but admitted evidence from their video support staff had been used by judges.

"I just reminded the officials of their job - they needed a bit of help," he said.

"We tell our athletes to be alert on the track, and officials need to be alert off the track.

"We practise hard to get the baton round safely and within the rules, and those rules need to be applied fairly."

More than the Games / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 14 of 14

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  1. Ian C

    I don't know.

    From Donald D, on Wed 26 Aug 9:27PM
  2. Hey Jamaican & Usain Bolt haters, which country in­ the world have the most drug scandals and athlete’s­ known to have the shortest time span for times­ improvements to date in their careers? Which country­ was on avg second to USA when it comes sprints? And how­ many world class sprinters from other countries have­ Jamaica family ties in their Blood? Oh by the way, that­ young lady that won the 400m, was she born in USA or­ Jamaica. LOL. I guess was she is on steroids too before­ she left Jamaica, right? And Carl Lewis how many times­ have he failed a drug test in his career before he­ became the World Fastest Fool & CHI-CHI-MAN? Please­ remember, "they who points their finger at others­ have many more of their own pointing back at­ them?"

    P.S. CARL LEWIS SAID SOME TIME AGO,­ "Who cares if he had failed a drugs test before­ the 1988 Olympics."

    From Ian C, on Wed 26 Aug 7:02PM
  3. NUMBER 10:
    Let me ask you, do you think that Usain Bolt­ is not subjected to dope testing? Why don't you­ inform yourself, before you write damn nonsense?

    From Lance, on Wed 26 Aug 4:41PM
  4. the result of the test for trackster semenya must be­ release as soon as possible to give justice to those­ other athletes who were previously awarded tme gold­ medals but were stripped because of the findings..take­ into account nancy navalta of the philippines. she­ would have been an international champion in athletics,­ if not for that gendewr test conducted by the­ international organization.

    From sam76tennis, on Wed 26 Aug 9:27AM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    i think usain bolt and company should be subjected to­ doping exams. who knows some of them have been using­ banned substances.. i am not an american but i still­ cheer for the united states team. they are still the­ best in the world. for great britain, they only ­ benefited from the miscues, but they can never win­ against americans..

    From sam76tennis, on Wed 26 Aug 9:25AM
  6. USA! USA USA wow..you want for the rest of the world to­ lie to benifit you as a country... and you wonder why­ USA drug cheats were never caught... seems like they­ love to turn blind eyes

    From dercute, on Wed 26 Aug 1:41AM
  7. It is no wonder that, in the past, so many US athletes­ who were on banned substances were allowed to go on­ competing despite the fact that they were known to drug­ cheaters!!! How can the US have someone like Doug­ Logan as head of athletics when he is, publicly,­ stating that another country was wrong to "blow­ the whistle" on a wrong doing by US athletes? He­ should be upholding the rules of athletics - whichever­ country has infringed them..... SHAME ON YOU,­ US!!!!!!

    From Lance, on Tue 25 Aug 5:49PM
  8. "Berlin 2009 - US blast Britain over relay­ protest"

    The US have blasted a few people in the­ last couple of years - and they have a habit of­ blasting us Brits.

    From Donald D, on Tue 25 Aug 12:37PM
  9. Wilmar you are correct. Although Logan did say that­ they would only lodge a protest if it interfered with­ their athlete getting a medal the protest was filed­ long afterwards. In any case what the Brits did just­ showed up the officials who were clearly not on the­ ball. Rules are rules nad if the rules were breached­ there is nothing to complain about. In any case the­ Brits were protecting their own bronze medal as if the­ had behaved like
    'sportsmen' and allowed the­ Americans to go through then they might have been off­ the podium.

    From Balvin, on Tue 25 Aug 6:01AM
  10. Pardon me, but isn't this coming from the same­ country/federation that filed the after-hours protest­ against Dutch Antilles sprinter Churandy Martina in­ Beijing?

    From wilmar, on Tue 25 Aug 1:06AM
  11. hypocrite - not one of the more sporting nations around­ - and too many examples from too many sports to­ enumerate. a pleasure however to have michael johnson­ on the bbc coverage of these champs.

    From DAVID S, on Mon 24 Aug 6:53PM
  12. This is, to me, quite a bizarre comment coming from the­ head of US athletics.

    The rules are quite clear, yet­ what he said implies that they are expected not to be­ followed, and that on a "you don't tell on us,­ we don't tell on you" basis. Not the best of­ things.

    From Petar, on Mon 24 Aug 5:50PM
  13. Get over it.

    From Donald D, on Mon 24 Aug 5:48PM
  14. cry cry cry yankees, Jamaica would have won anyway and­ humiliate you once again, so you should thank to Brits­ for that DQ...

    From Ferrrrrrr, on Mon 24 Aug 5:16PM
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