From the front page:
"The meet (in Linz) was billed as a world record attempt at 1000m. But Jolanda Ceplak and Maria Mutola made a mockery out of it as they loped around the track and then sprinted to the finish, nearly 10 seconds off the world record."
I disagree, guys. If I was Maria Mutola's coach, and the organisers booked her number one rival beside her in a world-record attempt, I would tell Maria that is is more important to win, than to go for the record.
If you want a serious world-record attempt, then just get some competent rabbits and Mutola (or Ceplak, or whoever). Let her be mentally relaxed knowing that no-one is going to come chugging by with 50m to go, and let her loose.
But book serious competition in the same event and then you have a race, and not a world-record attempt. And in a race, it is only important who crosses the line first.
Whoever booked these two athletes together and thought he was a smart-dude who would see a crackin' WR attempt, does not understand runners.
Did Coe ever break a WR when Ovett was in the field? Did Ovett do vice versa? No way one of those two was going to put his balls on the line when his nemesis was hovering over his shoulder.
Maria did the right thing. The race organiser is the fool.
PS: I watched the race, and it was obvious very quickly what was going to happen. In fact, the El G thing in London was exactly the same. Announced on Europosrt as a WR mile attempt but El G never followed the rabbits, but had his own agenda that day.