A local runner broke the then world record for the hearing impaired at last year’s Galaxy Entertainment Group (GEG) Macau International Marathon, but the record has still not been recognised by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD) as her confirmation certificate was not signed in time by all those involved – and in response to the predicament, Sports Bureau (ID) President Luís Gomes said on Saturday that the bureau had meanwhile intervened and explained the situation to the ICSD: “We have done our best to help”.
According to a news report by Chinese-language Macau Sports Weekly on Thursday, Hoi Long, a local amateur triathlete who won the bronze medal in the women’s triathlon at the 18th Asian Games in Indonesia in 2018, broke the then world record for the hearing impaired of 1 hour, 27 minutes and 25 seconds at the GEG Macau International Marathon on December 3 last year with a 1 hour, 24 minutes and 34 seconds run. In April this year, she requested the assistance of the General Association of Athletics of Macau (AAMC) to have her half-marathon result signed by the persons in charge of the event at the time – such as race officials, in accordance with the ICSD rules and requirements.
As reported by Macau Sports Weekly, the general association had yet to return to Hoi her signed confirmation certificate as of last Monday, when the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf announced that it would no longer accept applications for world records submitted 30 days after the end of the competition date.
When asked by reporters when addressing Saturday’s opening ceremony of the “71st Macau Grand Prix Family Carnival” in Praça do Tap Seac , Gomes said that after the publication of the news report, the bureau immediately intervened in the case and got in touch with the relevant association and race officials on Friday night to sign and verify Hoi’s results, in the hope of “helping the athlete to the best of its ability”, adding that the incident can be regarded as a lesson learnt by the bureau, in which it had intervened and dealt with the incident as soon as it was aware of it.
According to Gomes, in addition to assisting the relevant association to submit the record application to the ICSD, his bureau has its explanations and interpretations already prepared to be sent to the committee, in the hope that the application will eventually be accepted.
Gomes also indicated to the media that the delay in the application for official recognition of the world record was due to complicated administrative procedures, which involve many “technical” aspects, including the need for athletes to undergo repeated drug tests for confirmation, waiting for the respective report from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), and the need for “technical” representatives from competitions in different parts of the world to sign the confirmation procedures.
Gomes pledged that in order to ensure that local athletes can have their results recognised after achieving outstanding results, the bureau would strengthen its guideline procedures for Macau’s general associations representing the sports sector.
Sports Bureau (ID) President Luís Gomes speaks to reporters on the sidelines of Saturday’s opening ceremony of the “71st Macau Grand Prix Family Carnival” in Tap Seac. – Photo courtesy of TDM
