Political infighting has led to chaos, with two men now recognized by competing bodies as president of the country’s athletics federation.
By Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 30, 2008
Less than 100 days before the start of the Beijing Olympics, Mexican track and field remains roiled in turmoil and political infighting with two men now recognized by competing bodies as president of the country’s athletics federation.
Last month, Eduardo Jimenez was appointed interim head of the Federacion Mexicana de Atletismo (FMA), replacing Mariano Lara, whose nearly five-year reign was marked by charges of incompetence, negligence and fraud.
But on Sunday, after Antonio Lozano was elected president of the FMA in a vote held by the umbrella organization overseeing all of Mexico’s sports federations, Jimenez, with the support of the Mexican Olympic Committee, refused to step aside, making it unclear who, if anyone, is calling the shots.
“Evidently, the federation is in total disorder,” six-time national champion distance runner Dulce Rodriguez told Mexican journalist Julian Rodriguez, noting that the Olympic marathon trials are less than two weeks away.
“We don’t know exactly where the trials are going to be, we don’t have the details and it’s ridiculous that three months before the Olympic Games we still don’t have anyone selected to do the work. But it’s an example of what’s happening here in Mexico.”
Four months ago, 400-meter runner Ana Guevara, the country’s most decorated track athletes, retired rather than continue training for Beijing because of what she said was corruption pervading Mexican sports.:rolleyes:
Despite the controversy, it’s unlikely Mexico will be banned from competing in the Olympics.
Carlos Hermosillo, a one-time national team soccer star and now head of the state-run commission for physical culture and sport, has asked the IAAF, the world governing body for track and field, to allow Mexico to wait until after the Beijing Games to hold new elections for an FMA president.