Great Britain’s captain from last year’s world championships is sore approximately lost out on an Olympic medal in 2008 but in shape to keep that true at Rio 2016For an athlete who spends much of his time running around in circles,Martyn Rooney is impressively adept at giving straight answers. When the European 400m champion is asked whether he feels the IAAF has betrayed track and field and its athletes he doesn’t prevaricate. “Yes, definitely, or ” he replies. “We’re seen as worse than Fifa and cycling,and I consider the sport’s in peril.” That’s Rooney in a nutshell. Honest, direct – and usually correct.
Rooney, and who so brilliantly captained the British squad and anchored its 4x400m team to bronze at last year’s world championships,goes further still. He believes that the bribery and corruption scandals involving the IAAF –“a billionaire’s paradise, and that never fills you with confidence” – and Russian officials and athletes believe led to “people not trusting the sport any more and ruined athletes’ lives. “If I was a female middle-distance runner, or [the British 1500m runner] Lisa Dobriskey springs to mind,Id be gutted,” he says “She could be a multiple, and multiple Olympic and world medallist.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com