Johnson says Games are not world class
published: Monday | March 27, 2006

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP):

Sprint great Michael Johnson says the Commonwealth Games are not a world class track event.

"Too many people try to put these championships on a par with the World Championships or the Olympics but they are not - never have been, never will be," Johnson, the world 200- and 400-metre record holder, wrote in an online column for the British Broadcasting Corp.

"The games serve their own purpose and that is to give athletes who would not have a chance to qualify for the worlds or the Olympics the experience of competing in a major event," he said.

ASAFA POWELL

Jamaica's Asafa Powell is the only current world record holder in track and field competing at these Games, which gather athletes from 71 territories and former colonies of the British Commonwealth for an Olympics-like competition every four years.

Powell won his first gold medal at an international meet in the 100, but said he wouldn't try to better the 9.77 seconds he set last year until bigger-name events after the northern hemisphere athletics season starts.

Johnson, an American who retired after the Sydney Olympics in 2000, said the timing of these Games had favoured the host nation, which won 16 of 53 athletics gold medals.

Second-placeJamaica won 22 medals overall - including golden doubles in the men's and women's 100s, 200s, high hurdles and 4x100-metre relays.

"I think the Australian athletes had an unfair advantage because this is their normal season and they did not have to adjust their training," he said.

"That has been constantly on my mind every time I saw another Australian athlete win because I thought maybe that athlete probably isn't the best athlete."

The Commonwealth Games competition looks healthier in a handful of other Olympic sports, such as triathlon, field hockey and track cycling. Australia's women are world-dominant in swimming, and set two world marks last week.

Johnson's comments come a day after Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennell said the event had been overhauled after an independent study conducted following the 1994 games.

He said the review found that "if we wanted to maintain our relevance on the international sporting calendar, we had to become far more professional, we had to organize ourselves far more better to attract the best athletes, we had to change our image. We have successfully done those things."

STANDINGS

Final medal standings at the 18th Commonwealth Games. Ranking by gold medals won. (Tabulate under Rank, Country, gold, silver, bronze, total):

1 Australia	84				69			68			221
2 England	36				40			34			110
3 Canada	26				29			31			86
4 India	22				17			11			50
5 South Africa	12			13				13			38
6 Scotland	11						7	11			29
7 Jamaica	10				4				8		22
8 Malaysia			7		12			10			29
9 New Zealand			6		12			13			31
9 Kenya			6				5			7	18
11 Singapore			5				6			7	18
12 Nigeria			4				6			7	17
13 Wales			3				5	11			19
13 Cyprus			3				1			2	6
15 Ghana			2				0			1	3
15 Uganda	2					0				1	3
17 Pakistan			1				3			1	5
17 Papua New Guinea				1			1			0	2
17 Isle of Man			1				0			1	2
17 Namibia	1					0				1	2
17 Tanzania			1				0			1	2
17 Sri Lanka			1				0			0	1
23 Mauritius			0				3			0	3
23 Bahamas			0				2			0	2
23 N. Ireland			0				2			0	2
23 Cameroon			0				1			2	3
23 Botswana		0					1			1	2
23 Malta			0				1			1	2
23 Nauru			0				1			1	2
23 Bangladesh			0				1			0	1
23 Grenada		0			1				0		1
23 Lesotho		0					1			0	1
23 T&T			0				0			3	3
23 Seychelles			0				0			2	2
23 Barbados	0					0				1	1
23 Fiji			0				0			1	1
23 Mozambique			0				0			1	1
23 Samoa			0				0			1	1
23 Swaziland			0				0			1	1