Athletics: The world record that never was: BAF apologises to Jackson for 'unfair' mistake

COLIN JACKSON yesterday received a public apology from British athletics organisers over the world record that never was.

The British Athletic Federation finally confirmed yesterday that Jackson had not broken the world 60m hurdles record in Glasgow on Saturday, but had only equalled it.

Further study of the photo-finish print showed that Jackson had not clocked 7.35sec as had been announced to a packed Kelvin Hall crowd and millions of television viewers. The time was, in fact, 7.36sec which only equals Greg Foster's seven-year-old record.

The BAF spokesman, Tony Ward, promised the Federation would investigate why it took two days to correct the mistake, even though the photo-finish judges knew about it on Saturday night.

'The buck stops with us for this unfortunate incident, and I think we owe Colin an apology for what happened,' Ward said. 'It was very unfair to an athlete who must have spent Saturday celebrating his new world record to get such deflating news so late afterwards. He's entitled to feel quite angry.'

A less-than-clear negative seemed to indicate Jackson had just dipped under 7.35, but photo-finish judges could not be sure until a print had been taken later in the evening. It showed clearly that Jackson had run a couple of thousandths of a second over 7.35, so his time - under international rules - would have to be rounded up to 7.36.

'I set a personal best and equalled the world record, so what the hell, I'm happy,' Jackson said.