Clarke: They were out-raced
2006-03-28 09:17
Sydney - The Australian 4x400m women's
relay team should hand back the Commonwealth Games gold medals
they were awarded after their protest led to England being
disqualified, one of Australia's most respected athletes said.
Ron Clarke, who set 18 world records in middle and long
distance events during the 1950s and 1960s, called on Jana
Pittman, Caitlin Willis, Rosemary Hayward and Tamsyn Lewis to
hand the medals back as an act of sportsmanship.
England easily won the relay final ahead of Australia but
were disqualified on a minor technicality after their third
runner, Natasha Danvers Smith, had been standing in the wrong
order at a changeover.
England were already in front and gained no obvious
advantage but the Australians lodged a protest, which saw them
awarded the gold and England disqualified.
"I am absolutely appalled by what went on and frankly our
girls should never have accepted the medal," Clarke told the
Daily Telegraph's Tuesday edition.
"How can they accept a gold medal when they were out-raced?
They should give their gold medals to England without
hesitation."
Rule breach
Australian Athletics officials defended the decision by the
athletes to protest, saying England would have been
disqualified anyway because the rule breach had already been
picked up by track officials.
But Clarke said the rule should be changed.
"They applied the rules but it's poor sportsmanship," he
said.
"What would've happened if the Australians had won clearly
and the English protested... in order to get a gold medal?
"We would've become a republic."
Clarke, who lit the cauldron at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
but never won an Olympic gold medal, currently serves as mayor
of Gold Coast.