Pompey, Burnett climb in IAAF rankings
Stabroek News
June 30, 2004
Guyana's United States-based athletes Aliann Pompey and Marian Burnett placed fifth and seventh respectively in two separate meets as they warm up for the Athens 2004 Olympics.
And despite these performances, both have climbed a few places in the International Association of Athletic Federation (IAAF) rankings.
According to IAAF results, Pompey clocked 51.33 seconds for fifth place to Mexico's world champion Ana Guevara (50.16) at the Norwich Union Super Grand Prix, in Gateshead, England on Sunday.
Burnett on the other hand placed seventh in 2:02.70 to France's Virginie Fouquet (2:01.30) at the Memorial Josefa Odlozila, in Prague, Czech Republic on Monday.
In the latest (Monday) IAAF world ranking, Pompey improved her ranking for the Women's 400-metre from 13 to 10 (1,244 points), while Burnett has moved from 33 to 22 (1,193 points) for the 800-metres.
Guevara's win on Sunday placed her once again in the top spot of the IAAF World Rankings. Only two weeks ago Guevara's 146-week streak as the number one 400m runner came to an end, but on Sunday, the Mexican was back in first place.
The reigning world champion, who has 1,336 points, recaptured her first place in the 400m event ranking from Jamaica's Lorraine Fenton (1,368), and jumped a massive 18 places to tie at sixth place in the Women's Overall Ranking with Mozambique's Maria Mutola and USA's Torri Edwards.
Russia's Antyukh Natalya (50.21), Bahamas' Christine Amertil (50.30), Great Britain's Donna Fraser (51.11) and Lee McConnell (51.28) placed second, third, fourth and fifth respectively to Guevara in the Gateshead meet.
Over in the Czech Republic, Slovakia's Lucia Kloocova (2:01.53), Namibia's Agnes Samaria (2:01.56), Brazil's Luciana Mendes (2:01.63), Russia's Larisa Chzhao (2:01.81) and Ghana's Akosua Serwaa (2:02.25) placed second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth respectively to Fouquet in the women's 800-metres race.
Mutola heads the IAAF's World Rankings in the women's 800-metre with 1,391 points. Slovakia's Jolanda Ceplax (1,326) and Great Britain's Kelly Holmes (1,323) occupy the second and third spots respectively.
Meanwhile, as the 2004 Olympics draw nearer, Pompey, in her quest for gold, will warm up at a number of meets next month.
She will be in action once again on Saturday in Rome, Italy, then on July 9 in Tenerife, Spain. On July 19, she travels to Thessaloniki, Greece and on July 23, to Paris, France for two more meets.