Athletics: Marathon qualifying time stays

The New Zealand Olympic Committee has refused to relax its women's marathon standards for Athens in line with easier international qualifying times.

The IOC, expecting the marathon to be one of the premier events at the Games in August, has made qualifying targets considerably more achievable. But the New Zealand committee has declined the chance to do the same for local hopefuls, drawing the ire of Athletics NZ.

ANZ high-performance manager Tony Rogers is disappointed that months of discussion with the committee has led to the A qualification time improving by just 30s from its original standard of 2h 32m.

That is despite the IOC's revised A time being 2h 37m.

Rogers said yesterday that even the NZ committee's B qualifying time (2h 36m) was tougher than the IOC A mark.

Several prospects, including two-time world mountain-running champion Melissa Moon, will run in the London Marathon this month in a bid to qualify for the Olympics.

Only one runner can qualify from those who better the B time.

The A time was an unrealistic prospect for them, Rogers said.

NZOC secretary-general Barry Maister said his committee was charged with maintaining a standard of entry based on excellence.

"It would be nice to lower standards to let more athletes in, but we think we are the guardians of the standards," he told Radio Sport.

"Athletes have to bring credit to themselves and their country and we think standards should be no lower than they were in Sydney [Olympics in 2000] or Manchester [Commonwealth Games in 2002]."

Maister was surprised by the extent of the IOC's relaxation of the marathon standard. "They've lowered the standard to a point that we don't accept."

He said international improvements also had to be considered. The 100th fastest woman marathoner in the world last year clocked 2h 31m.

- NZPA