Here’s to our absent friends

Published on Sunday 21 July 2002 01:00

Ekkart Arbeit

Who? The new South African track and field coach, a stalwart of the old East German athletics doping programme in the 1970s and ‘80s.

Where? Preparing at his new home in South Africa for the challenge ahead. He was sacked from his last job, as head coach of Athletics Australia, because of his past activities, when they came to light in Stasi files.

Why? Because, according to Athletics South Africa chief executive Banele Sindani: "We don’t want him for the Commonwealth Games. We want him for the future."

What next? He will take up his appointment as soon as the Games are finished. Sindani explained: "It doesn’t matter to us how much dirt the media, both here and overseas, digs up on Dr Arbeit’s past because, as far as we are concerned, that is exactly where it belongs - in the past."

Kathy Butler

Who? The Scottish 1500m champion, who represented Canada at the 1994 Commonwealth Games but in 2000 gave up Canadian citizenship and pledged her allegiance to Scotland.

Where? Most likely in her London home, preparing for the European championships.

Why? She planned to run the 1500 metres at the Games, before stepping up to 5000m, which some argue is her preferred distance, at the European Champs. Having achieved the qualifying time over a year ago, selectors demanded that she run another 1500m to prove her speed over the shorter distance, something Butler described as "unreasonable selection conditions." Suffering from a recurrence of anaemia, Butler refused to disrupt her training programme with a 1500m and was not named in the athletics team for Manchester.

What next? The European Championships, as long as the anaemia clears up. She may not opt to run for Scotland again after complaining: "I don't think anyone is fighting my case in Scotland. They’re trying to make it as difficult as possible, because they want me to do the 5k."

Ian Mackie

Who? 27-year-old Scottish sprinter, perennial underachiever.

Where? At home in Fife, ruing another missed opportunity. "I am absolutely devastated," he said. "The doctors said I could run if I insisted, but it would be better to withdraw and hope that I can perhaps salvage something at the end of the season."

Why? An injured heel. Having been given one last chance to prove his fitness Mackie was due to run at the recent AAAs meeting in Birmingham. But a hard training session two days before brought a recurrence of the injury.

What next? "Yet again my season has been stolen from me," he commented, adding that retirement is not an option "until I have won medals at the major championships."

Michael Klim

Who? Olympic double gold medal winner and world record holder (100 metres butterfly).

Where? Recovering from back surgery that forced him to miss the Australian selection trials in Brisbane. Having first felt back pain soon after the Sydney Olympics, Klim persisted with the aid of cortisone injections, epidurals and acupuncture, but the pain was such that at a media conference the swimmer was forced to kneel rather than sit.

Why? He sought exemption, saying before the trials: "I will talk to Greg Hodge, the head coach of Australian Swimming, but he is quite adamant about the criteria." And so it proved. Sportingly, he didn’t kick up too much of a stink, saying: "They can’t have any special cases because if you permit one person, you’d have more cases like that in the future."

What next? With "unfinished business in swimming," Klim said he is now aiming for next year’s World Championships in Barcelona and the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Merlene Ottey

Who? Iconic Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey, with 8 Olympic, 7 Commonwealth and 14 world championship medals.

Where? Slovenia

Why? Ottey has been living in Ljubljana since 1998 when she began working with Slovene coach Srdjan Djordjevic, and she has just received approval to represent Slovenia at the European Championships later this year. By living there for a year she satisfied the IAAF’s criteria, and she became a naturalised Slovenian under a special law that enables persons of outstanding skills to apply for fast-track Slovenian nationality.

What next? Though she is now 42, Ottey wants to carry on, despite, or perhaps because of, a positive nandrolone test in July 1999. She was cleared in June 2000 after the IAAF criticised the lab that carried out the test, but her quick return to the Sydney Olympics was unpopular among certain of her then Jamaican team mates, prompting her relocation to Slovenia.

Ato Boldon

Who? Past-his-best Trinidad and Tobago sprinter and reigning 100m Commonwealth Games champion and a quadruple Olympic medallist.

Where? Trinidad.

Why? Age and injuries caught up with him and his decision to switch his training back to his homeland to escape the shadow of US training partner Maurice Greene hasn’t helped. Down in the dumps thanks to a series of poor results.

What next? Insists he will fight back to form and may now move back to California to work with American coach Jon Smith as he prepares for next year’s World Championships and then the Olympics in Athens in 2004.