ROME, ITALY

GV PAN Competitors start race. Go round first bend and down back straight 0.19
SV PAN Leading competitors complete second lap 0.37
GV PAN Maree leading Ovett round final bend, pulls away to win 0.57

Background: ROME, ITALY

INTRODUCTION: South-African born runner, Sydney Maree, had his greatest moment since his return to World Athletics by winning the mile at Rieti, Rome, on Wednesday (9 September). Maree, who now runs for the United States, could not compete in most world athletic events for four years during a legal dispute over his application for U.S. citizenship.

SYNOPSIS: Sydney Maree, who was celebrating his twenty-fifth birthday, set the fourth fastest time in history for the mile, three minutes, forty-eight point eight-three seconds -- one-point-five seconds outside Sebastian Coe's world record. Maree also set a new United States record.

The race was a bitter defeat for the favourite, Britain's Steve Ovett, who wanted to regain the world record. Ovett, finished second, in three minutes, fifty point two-three seconds after losing a sprint with Maree over the last one-hundred metres. He said he was disappointed.

Source: REUTERS - ANGELO FIORI