 
|
|||||||||||||
              
|
Tuesday, May 02, 2000 By Lori Shontz, Post-Gazette Sports Writer
If he doesn't mind paying the late-entry fee, world-record holder Khalid Khannouchi has until Friday morning to get his American citizenship and announce his intention to compete in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials.
In the past several weeks, Khannouchi's wife and lawyer have told various media outlets that they expect Khannouchi, a native of Morocco, to receive American citizenship by tomorrow..
Larry Grollman, Olympic trials race director, said Khannouchi met the April 7 deadline for submitting an entry form. Grollman stressed that anyone can do so; an entry form is only part of the process, and it does not mean an entrant is automatically running.
Once he has submitted an entry form, an athlete must then declare his intention to compete.
Declaration day for the trials is Thursday.
There is, however, a late-declaration period from 9 a.m. to noon on Friday; these athletes are charged a $100 fee.
No entrants will be accepted after noon Friday.
It was thought that Khannouchi would need to get approval from Morocco to compete for the United States, but a spokesman for the IAAF, track and field's international governing body, told Runners' World Online that Khannouchi would not need Moroccan approval because he hadn't run for that country at a high enough level to require permission.
There is still one remaining obstacle -- whether Khannouchi is healthy enough. He has spent most of the past weeks in Ireland, receiving treatment for an ankle injury he aggravated April 16 in the London Marathon.
Turning down Olympics?
When Todd Williams said that if he wins the trials but fails to achieve the Olympic A standard he will turn down the Olympic team berth, that raised the question of who would then make the team.
Dan Grimes, chairman of USA Track and Field's men's long distance running committee, said yesterday that in such an unlikely occurrence, "we would just go to the next finisher," as indicated in the Olympic team selection procedure circulated earlier this year.
The long distance running committee's Web site does not get specific about what happens if the winner of the men's trials withdraws from the Olympics. It says only: "Alternates will be selected in order of finish at the Olympic Trials race."
In that case, Williams' gesture would still not reward the two men who have already achieved the A standard, David Morris and Joe LeMay, unless one of those men finishes second.
Grimes said he doesn't understand why Williams would give up an Olympic spot for LeMay, who beat the A standard by only five seconds on a course that he said is mostly downhill.
"Why would Todd want to give away a spot to Joe based on a time Joe ran in a race a month ago in a course much easier?" said Grimes.
|
||||||||||||
