McColgan back on course

ATHLETICS

Liz McColgan will take an "older and wiser" head into her London Marathon comeback on 2 April, convinced that she can recapture her best form.

The 30-year-old Scot admits to paying the price of racing too much after the triumphant days of 1991 when she won the world 10,000 metres title in Tokyo and the New York Marathon.

She ignored the advice of her husband, Peter, to slow down and ran into a catalogue of injuries which threatened to end her career. McColgan said: "I made lots of mistakes. Peter was bending over backwards to try to stop me, but I didn't listen to him. Instead, I tried to do the indoors, outdoors, cross-country and roads, as well as training. Now, I'm not so closed to other people's ideas. I realise how close I came to losing it all."

McColgan, who still has a troublesome toe injury, intends to pick up the threads of the 10,000m after a three-year break and qualify for the World Championships in Gothenburg.

n Peter Gordon is to have a four-year suspension lifted completely by the International Amateur Athletic Federation. The 43-year-old British discus thrower, who has cancer, was banned two years ago after he was unable to give a full urine sample when tested at a meeting at Crystal Palace. Three months ago, the suspension was lifted by the British Athletic Federation because of his "grave medical condition". But the world governing body insisted it could not act because BAF officials failed to supply the necessary medical documentation. This has now been done.