OLYMPICS / Barcelona 1992: Athletics: Smith's final cut

ADIDAS, Coca-Cola, McDonalds and other multi-national giants were not there, but Arthur Cackett, a butcher from Wolverhampton, was. His name was proudly carried on the vest of Phylis Smith, who finished last in the women's 400 metres final last night, as the British runner cheekily succeeded in evading strict Olympic rules on sponsor's logos.

In her semi-final on Tuesday, Smith's vest had carried the scribbled legend 'Hello, Arthur Cackett', the Cackett in question being a butcher who provided her with free meat when she trained in Wolverhampton. British officials advised her to remove the words before the final, but Smith, who had originally agreed to their request, decided to ignore them.

Instead, the 26-year-old runner, who now lives in Wigan with her husband and child, marked her moment in the limelight before the final by looking at the television cameras, pointing to her vest and smiling broadly.

Tony Ward, a British team spokesman, said: 'We think the rule really refers to giant multi-national companies, not so much to the likes of dear Arthur, but we thought we had better err on the safe side.'

Smith, who clocked 50.40sec in her semi-final but managed only 50.87 in the final, said: 'I'd checked with track officials before the race it would be all right and they said 'yes', but the team management thought it might not be a good idea in the final.'