A false start in track will be costlier

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Call it a false start over false starts.

Facing opposition from top athletes including Marion Jones and Maurice Greene, the advisory council of track and field's world governing body did an about-face on a proposal to disqualify sprinters and hurdlers on their first false start.

The International Amateur Athletic Federation Council - whose recommendations usually are accepted by the decision-making IAAF Congress - suggested Monday allowing one false start before disqualifying someone who then jumps the gun. The rule would apply to races 400 meters and shorter.

Currently, a runner is kicked out after his second false start.

The new rule is intended to cut down on false starts so fans in the stands and TV audiences aren't bored by the delays.

"We have to look for new ways to present our events," IAAF secretary general Istvan Gyulai said. "We also have to take into account television."

The IAAF Congress will vote on that and other proposals when it meets Wednesday and Thursday ahead of the eighth World Championships. Competition starts Friday with the men's marathon.

Other matters before the congress include electing an IAAF president - acting president Lamine Diack, who took over when Primo Nebiolo died in November 1999, is the only candidate - and a proposal that would send disputes between the IAAF and athletes or national federations to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The IAAF Congress doesn't always adhere to the IAAF Council's suggestions. One example: In 1995, the congress refused to reduce drug suspensions from four years to two, though that change eventually was approved in 1997.

Jones and Greene, the reigning world and Olympic 100 champions, were among dozens of current and former athletes who signed a petition opposing the proposed false-start rule change, which was tested at some second-tier meets this spring.

USA Track & Field voted unanimously to oppose the change.

"It's ridiculous, it's frustrating. We're in the blocks ... and if we happen to fall out, we're dead. We're knocked out of the competition," Jones said in May, two months after the IAAF proposed the one-false-start-and-out rule. "I don't think it's fair."

In an 8 1/2-hour meeting, the IAAF Council also voted to do away with a proposal that would have decreased the number of attempts in the high jump and pole vault - another move intended to cut down on the length of meets.

"We listened to many athletes, coaches, journalists and fans. The goal is to shorten events and there are other ways to shorten events - fewer finalists, training judges," Gyulai said.

The council said organizers of single-day meets still are allowed to reduce the attempts in the long jump and triple jump.

Gyulai also said that world indoor 3,000 champion Olga Yegorova, who tested positive for the banned performance-enhancing hormone EPO at the July 6 Paris Grand Prix, submitted Monday to a second drug test.

The results of the test should be known by Thursday. If she fails again, the Russian would face a two-year ban and wouldn't be allowed to compete in Edmonton.