Greg Rutherford's record long jump is not legitimate – Chris Tomlinson

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/apr/29/greg-rutherford-record-long-jump-chris-tomlinson

Version 0 of 1.

Greg Rutherford's new British long jump record of 8.51m is "not legitimate" and should be expunged from the record books because his foot was "significantly over the line" when he took off, according to his bitter rival Chris Tomlinson.

Tomlinson, who held the national record with Rutherford until last week, also claimed other long jumpers were laughing at the small meeting in San Diego and that its officials were worse than the ones at his local track.

He said he had established that no Plasticine was used at last week's meeting, in contravention of IAAF Rule 184, which specifies that a 'Plasticine indicator board' must be used in competition. Without it, an indentation is less likely to have been left on the board.

"When you look at the video, it's clearly a foul," Tomlinson said. "Greg's foot is not marginally over but significantly over, probably four or five cm or so.

"It's left me in a slightly awkward situation because it's a jump that's clearly a large foul in a competition that isn't a world championships, isn't an Olympics or a grand prix. It's a very small competition and where do we draw the line in the sand?

"The long jump world are up in arms about this, texting and tweeting me and saying: 'How is this allowed? This is wrong.' Down at the local track the officials would be far more suited to a professional environment than what that particular competition was."

The USA Track and Field association insists the meeting, at the Olympic training centre in San Diego, complied with its standards and that Rutherford's leap was legal. A spokeswoman told the Guardian: "The meet was USATF sanctioned, through our USATF Southern California Association, and used USATF officials. Thus all marks are verified and legal."

But those comments hold no weight with Tomlinson, who concurred when BBC Tees asked him whether Rutherford should be stripped of his new record.

"I don't want to sit and make it look like it's an attack on Greg," he said. "But let's look at the evidence. There's video evidence that clearly states it's not a marginal foul it's a large foul jump. I feel it isn't a legitimate jump. We are British athletics and we almost have to set an example. We've got to be above all this. This isn't necessarily about making money or breaking records, it should be about what's right and what's wrong."

The legality – or otherwise – of Rutherford's leap has been the subject of keen debate on athletics' forums in recent days. But the YouTube footage is not as conclusive as Tomlinson suggests and a freeze-framed still of Rutherford's foot on the board does not have his body in it, leading some to doubt its authenticity.

Meanwhile Rutherford has insisted he competed in San Diego only because it was a licensed event. He said: "All the right 'i's were dotted and 't's crossed. I wouldn't do it if it was not an official competition because the risk of jumping well and it not being official would absolutely gut me."

It is not the first time Tomlinson has been critical of his rival. Last year, when a clearly unfit Rutherford failed to make the final of the world championships in Moscow, Tomlinson – who had not been selected – took to Twitter to claim Rutherford had been chosen ahead of him based on "media profile".

However Tomlinson denied his latest comments were sour grapes. "People might say I am bitter or it's just sour grapes but what else am I meant to do?" he said. "Am I just meant to sit back and say 'amazing jump' when it's clearly illegitimate?"