Pompey, Burnett climb up IAAF rankings
-AAA says proud of Burnett's achievement
Stabroek News
June 3, 2004
United States-based Guyanese athletes Aliann Pompey and Marian Burnett climbed a few notches in the International Amateur Athletic Federation's (IAAF) rankings in their respective events.
According to the IAAF rankings as of May 31, Pompey is currently ranked number 14 with 1214 points as a 400-metre runner, having moved up 12 places from 26. The number one spot is being occupied by Mexico's Ana Guevara (1378 points). The number two and three spots are held by Jamaica's Lorraine Fenton (1368) and The Bahamas' Tonique Williams (1333) respectively.
Burnett moved from the 40's in the women's 800-metre ranking to share 31st with Russia's Svetlana Klyuka on 1176 points.
The top three places are occupied by Mozambique's Maria Mutola (1391), Slovakia's Jolanda Ceplax (1339) and Great Britain's Kelly Holmes (1329) respectively.
After weeks of speculation as to whether Burnett would achieve the Athens 2004 Olympic qualifying standard, she finally did it on Monday at the Payton Jordon US Open Track and Field Invitational Meet at the Stanford University's Cobb Track and Angell Field.
According to an IAAF article, Burnett returned one minute, 59.47 seconds (1:59.47) in clocking the second fastest time for the distance to date this year.
She was beaten for the top place by United States' Nicole Teter (1:58.83). Canadian Diane Cummins finished third in 1:59.67.
Amateur Athletic Association of Guyana (AAA) president Claude Blackmoore on receiving the news, told Stabroek Sport himself and the executives of the AAA are very proud of Burnett's achievement.
"We are happy that she has made the `A' standard and we hope she maintains her form leading up to the Olympics," Blackmoore said.
The AAA head said a congratulatory cable will be dispatched to Burnett almost immediately.
According to the IAAf article, Nicole Teter, who trains at Stanford with the Nike Farm Team, led the women's 800m through a 57.7 opening quarter to tow Burnett and Cummins to the Numbers two and three marks in the world this year.
Teter's performance was her best since 2002 when she ran 1:57.97 and won national indoor and outdoor titles. Last season, Teter missed most of the season because of a foot injury.