The amazing Kathy Cook

What Oprah dodged comment mark butler

THRILLED though I was that Montell Douglas ran 11.05 for 100m to replace Kathy Cook as British recordholder this year, I feel some sort of special award is overdue for Kathy, having held the national records at 100m, 200m, and 400m for so long. She had been the 100m recordholder since 1981, but her reign as 200m record-holder started even earlier in 1980. She has held the 400m record since 1982, first at 50.46 and then 49.43 in 1984. Mrs Cook seems to be a reluctant heroine but should not be, because time has proved her marks to be very tough records. It’s not like we haven’t had decent women sprinters in the last quarter of a century. The fact that we have a 26-year-old 400m record is remarkable given that we have had two Olympic and two World Championship medallists this decade, including of course the current reigning champion in both events. I did not expect the 49.43 to survive this year, but in fact no one in the world ran that quickly in 2008. It may well go in Berlin next year, but, even if it is broken by Christine Ohuruogu (or Nicola Sanders), not even they would expect the new record to stand for a further 26 years (until 2035!). So please UKA, try to persuade Kathy to appear at the 2009 UK Championships where her unique multiple record-holding longevity can be rewarded and then acknowledged by us all.

Kathy Cook: faster than Christine Ohuruogu

The questions the world’s most famous talk show host forgot to put to cheating athlete Marion Jones

Picture: Mark Shearman

WHILE on holiday in the USA in October, I was able to watch the Oprah Winfrey interview with Marion Jones-Thompson, as she now wishes to be called. Although there was some tough questioning by Oprah, the programme portrayed Jones as a tearful mother who had made “one big mistake” of lying to federal agents. Throughout the programme, she maintained that she “never knowingly” took drugs. In athletics terms, her much bigger mistake was, of course, having cheated in the sport since September 2000. It should be noted that all her personal bests came before that point, as did two world titles at 100m. Talking of which, she told Oprah that she was sad that she would one day

Marion Jones: claims she ‘never knowingly’ took drugs

have to explain to her children why her name had been “erased” from the history books after 1999. She could always give them one of the books I have edited. They have indeed had to be painstakingly adjusted to remove her name from the main results. However, her sorry story is fully detailed in footnotes which in some

cases take up more space than the original race report. Indeed, her multiple disqualifications have created a great deal of work for myself and other statisticians. I wonder if her sons might instead ask her these questions which sadly Oprah did not: 1 If you thought the “clear” substance you took was legal, then why lie about having seen it before? 2 Why risk taking a new supplement in September 2000 on the eve of the Olympics when you had already performed so superbly that summer? 3 You missed a doping control test as a schoolgirl. For five years you were coached by Trevor Graham, who has trained a series of doping transgressors. You were associated with Ben Johnson’s mentor Charlie Francis. You were married to doping offender CJ Hunter, then you partnered another self-confessed drug cheat, Tim Montgomery. In the light of these experiences and associations, how can you explain your apparent lack of awareness that you were doing anything wrong?

n MARK BUTLER is a freelance statistician and member of the IAAF Press Commission

Beijing not so bad after all

Bored while running? Not me

IMAGINE if at the 2012 British Olympic trials, the men’s 100m was won in only 10.51. Or only two men broke 47 seconds in the 400m. Then at the Games a few weeks later, our only male 400m entrant clocked 53.11 while our top prospect for an athletics gold turned out to be so seriously injured, they could not register a performance at all. We end up with just two bronzes and just 13th position on the placing table. This would be regarded as a national disaster, but that’s exactly what happened in 2008 for this year’s Olympic hosts, China. So those who have been moaning about Britain’s athletics performance in Beijing should note that and compare our four medals and 17 top-eight placings with countries like China, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Brazil and Sweden, all of whom finished way behind in terms of both medals and placings. Think of the celebrations if a football team from Britain were able to defeat that lot in a World Cup. So a bit more credit please for our Beijing team and Dave Collins. They might have done a bit better but it could have been a lot worse.

Dave Collins: deserves some credit

THE other day in my gym there was a woman who was talking continuously on her mobile phone throughout sessions on the rowing machine, treadmill, and then an exercise bike right next to me. Once she stopped talking, I asked politely how she could do it and she said she would otherwise be bored. That’s also the excuse I’ve heard from those who run with music blaring into their ears – something which I feel can be quite reckless, which is why I was astounded to see one of our top women runners endorsing that activity on these pages last year. All of which makes me wonder if I am in a minority in finding running and training interesting enough in itself without the need to phone a friend or listen to my latest downloads. Furthermore, if I am running or lifting weights, I like to look and listen out for the people and things around me. Anything less I feel is potentially dangerous and/or inconsiderate. So please don’t bother to buy me an MP3 player this Christmas.

Mobile phones: not for the gym

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