Association inferior

After Posch scandal: now embarrassment for the French!

After stealing a starting place in the heptathlon at the European Championships in Rome (June 7-12) from 24-year-old Isabel Posch from Vorarlberg through unsportsmanlike behavior, France's athletics federation has now fallen flat on its face! Due to the incompetence of the officials, two runners missed out on a starting place for the European Championships ... 

The FFA (Fédération Française d'Athlétisme) simply forgot to register the world-class middle-distance runner Azzedine Habz and Simon Bedard (10,000 m). This is why these runners are missing from the entry list. Now they have asked European Athletics to make an exception and allow Habz and Bedard to start after all. No chance - the EA refused.

Athletes are the ones who suffer
The ones who suffer - as in the case of Posch - are of course always the athletes. No wonder the FFA is being torn to shreds in the French media. Azzedine Habz was one of the medal hopes. With a world-class 1500m time of 3:29.26, achieved in Oslo last year, he qualified directly for the European Championships. Now the "Road to Rome" states succinctly: "Not entered". Actually a reason for dismissal for the employee concerned.

Fortunately for the Austrian athletes, the ÖLV sports coordinator Hannes Gruber is a meticulously working official who cannot make such a mistake ...