TITLES:
-February has brought a lot of new World records to the Track & Field fans.
-The 25th European Indoor Championships were held in Valencia (27, 28/2, 1/3)
-The XC World Challenge is going on while the XC World Championships will be held
 in Marakesh on March.
-The International meeting "Athina '98" was held with a lot of success in Pireaus.
-The USATF Championships were held in Atlanta.
-Top coach calls for legalisation of drugs.
-The Outdoor season starts in Australia.

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FEBRUARY HAS BROUGHT A LOT OF NEW WORLD RECORDS TO THE TRACK & FIELD FANS
It was a month full of top performances, especially in men's distances and women's Pole Vault. 12 new World Indoor and 1 Outdoor marks were set by 3 male and 6 female athletes: In Men's 60 m. Maurice Greene was the big star as he tied Cason's 6" 41. on February 1st and broke it by running at 6" 39. on February 3rd in Madrid. In Men's 2.000 m. on 15/2 in Birmingham Haile  ebresselasie ran 4' 52" 86. He had also broken the 3.000 m. WR in Karlshrue on January, but Daniel Komen answered with 7' 24" 90 on 6/2 in Budapest. Daniel Komen also broke the 5km Indoor WR by 12' 51" 48. in Stockholm, on February 19th. Maria Mutola, after a lot of top races, managed to break Wachtell's WR in  Women's 800 m. on 22/2 by running 1' 56" 36. in Lievin. Ashia Hansen was the European Champion by jumping at 15, 16 m. in Valencia on February 28, which was a new Triple Jump World Record. In Women's Pole Vault, Emma George broke her own Outdoor record, with a jump at 4, 57 m. in Auckland on February 21. The Indoor action was very competitive with Daniela Bartova, Vala Flossadottir and, finally, Anzhela Balakhonova breaking five times the World record:
4, 45 m.  Anzhela BALAKHONOVA, UKR, 01 Mar 98, Valencia.
4, 44 m.  Vala FLOSADOTTIR, ISL, 14 Feb 98, Eskilstuna.
4, 43 m.  Daniela BARTOVA, CZE, 14 Feb 98, Prague.
4, 42 m.  Vala FLOSADOTTIR, ISL, 6 Feb, Bielefeld.
4, 41 m.  Daniela BARTOVA, CZE, 4 Feb, Erfurt.
We hope that this year we shall enjoy a lot more of top performances by
all those athletes and many more who have not compeeted yet.
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THE 25th EUROPEAN INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE HELD IN VALENCIA (27/2-1/3)

Ashia Hansen's 15, 16 m. and Anzhela Balakhonova's 4, 45 m. were the top performances of the 25th Indoor EC in Valencia, Spain, that were held with a lot of success. Other great performances were achieved by: Sergeij Osovich (20" 40 -Men's 200 m.), Jonathan Edwards (Men's Triple Jump), Sebastian Chmara, Deszo Szabo and Lev Lobotin in Men's Heptathlon, Svetlana Goncharenko and Melanie Paschke (Women's 200 m.), Grit Breuer (50" 45.) and Ionela Tirlea (50" 56.) in women's 400 m., and of course Gabriella Szabo, who managed to win women's 3km in spite of an early fall after the start line. EAA general secretary Till Lufft said: "When you look at what the athletes that were here, their position in the world rankings, and what they did, it has been a very good three days." Germany won 5 golden medals and led the medal board.  The Greek athletes, with the exception of Angelos Pavlakakis who won the 60 m. and Katerina Koffa who was third in 200 m., were almost dissapoining. Thanou was 4th in 60 m., Vasdeki was 4th in Triple Jump, Xanthou, Papakostas, Iakovou and Koffa (60 m.) were 5th in their events.

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-THE XC WORLD CHALLENGE IS GOING ON WHILE THE XC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WILL
 BE HELD IN MARAKESH ON MARCH.
After the 10th leg of the XC World Challenge the leaders are:
Men
1. Tom Nyariki (Kenya) 85 points
2. Paul Koech (Kenya) 69
3. Yann Millon (France) 65
4. Paul Tergat (Kenya) 64
5. Hendrik Ramaala (South Africa) 59
Women
1. Susan Chepkemei (Kenya) 80
2. Sally Barsosio (Kenya) 72
3. Mariana Chirila (Romania) 71
4. Zora Ouaziz (Morocco) 68
5. Jackline Maranga (Kenya) 66

The World Championships will be held on 21-22 March in Marakesh, Morocco.
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THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING "ATHINA '98" WAS HELD WITH A LOT OF SUCCESS IN PIREAUS
The "Athina" meeting was illustrious this year and could be compared to the top international meetings of Europe, like Lievin,  irmingham or Ghent, as some of the performances achieved in Pireaus were really fantastic:
60 m.: 6" 54. by Pavlakakis and Montgomery
400 m.: 45" 85. by Alvin Harisson
HJ: 2, 31 m. by Papakostas
SP: 20, 54 m. by Peric
200 m.: 22" 71. by Koffa
LJ: 6, 89 m. by May
The complete results from "Athina '98" as well as the results from all the top European meetings and all the Greek ones (including Greek and Balkan Games) can be found in our website.
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THE USATF CHAMPIONSHIPS WERE HELD IN ATLANTA
On February 27-28 the USATF Championships were held in Atlanta and a lot of American athletes added their names to the alltime indoor lists by achieving top performances:
Men
R. Clay 20" 42. (200 m.)
A. Harisson 45" 05.
C. Harisson 45" 18. (400 m.)
D. Ross 7" 43. (60 m. H.)
Women
T. Waller 2, 01 m. (High Jump)
It seems that the new generation of USA stars started from Atlanta, although top athletes like Maurice Greene said "no" to the USATF Champs.
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TOP COACH CALLS FOR LEGISLATION OF DRUGS
Top British athletics coach Wilf Paish (who was Tessa Sanderson's coach when she won a gold medal in the javelin at the 1984 Olympics) called for the legislation of performance-enhancing drugs in sport in a BBC show. His words were: "We should see drug-taking as an acceptable way of enhancing performance in sport. The (doping) rules as they are applied now simply do not work
and I say they should be scrapped. " "The ban on doping is also unworkable because athletes, like other professionals,  will always try to better themselves. If society finds it unacceptable to limit development in other professions, then it is also unacceptable
to place limits on athletes."
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THE OUTDOOR SEASON STARTS IN AUSTRALIA
Meanwhile, except for all the indoor and XC action described already, the Outdoor season has started in Australia and New Zealand, with the Melbourne GP and the Auckland and Sydney meetings. Maurice Greene has shown his intentions for 1998 with a 9" 99. 100 m. race in Sydney. Our site will inform you about all the outdoor top meetings, so keep in touch...:-)
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THE ATHLETICS SITE by
Michalis Nikitarides & Panayotis Christopoulos