young sprinter Raneika Bean on TV this week -- the Bermuda Track and Field Association president at pains to point out that Bean's stunning `record' time set at the Carifta Games two years ago was "official''.

Recently returned from this year's Carifta meet, Simmons noted that Bean's under-17 mark of 11.28 seconds set during a heat in the 1998 Games, was now listed in the Games programme as the Carifta record.

If Carifta organisers and the rest of the Caribbean had accepted the time as legitimate, said Simmons, then it was high time Bermuda did the same.

But hold on! Without wanting to take too much away from the teenage athlete, who undoubtedly was blessed with exceptional talent, there remain serious doubts about this performance -- doubts that should be thoroughly explored by our governing body of track and field.

If Simmons honestly believes this time is correct, then Bermuda's own record book will have to be amended. And Debbie Jones, perhaps the finest female athlete ever produced by this Island, might have something to say about that.

To recap, it was back in April '98 in Trinidad, that Bean, then aged 15, stormed home during her heat to win in a time clocked by finish line officials as an astonishing 11.28.

There was no doubting young Raneika's potential. She went on to win the under-17 100 metres gold, although in a much slower time of 11.96 -- the difference would translate to several metres.

Subsequent investigation showed that throughout the world only one girl of that age had ever bettered Bean's time -- American Angela Williams who ran four hundredths of a second faster in June, 1995.

During all of 1997, only one girl of 15 ran under 11.6 -- Italy's Erica Marchetti, but even she managed only 11.44.

Bermuda's Debbie Jones, who at her peak ran on the fastest college relay team in the entire US and represented Bermuda in numerous international events, set a national record of 11.46 -- almost two tenths slower than Bean -- some 20 years earlier.

To put Bean's supposed time into further perspective, it needs to be pointed out that neither the great Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith Joyner), Evelyn Ashford nor current superstar Marion Jones were ever able to run under 11.4 at the age of 15.

Bean's time on that sunny, spring morning in Trinidad, would have been fast to enough to qualify for the Atlanta Olympic Games semi-final! Asked to evaluate Bean's run, Peter Matthews, a statistician with world governing body, the IAAF, and editor of International Athletics Annual, made the following comments: "Statisticians such as as I have to judge results with impartiality and would always give the benefit of the doubt to athletes because there are circumstances in which major breakthroughs occur -- for example Bob Beamon's 1968 Olympic jump.

"A time for 11.28 for a 15-year-old is indeed extraordinary, but obviously not impossible. However, I can well imagine it being doubted on the grounds that this would be amazing by someone even a year or two older.

"Her time will also be judged by her subsequent achievements. If she cannot get anywhere near this again, then one might well doubt it.'' It is Matthews' final statement which should set the alarm bells ringing.

Setting the `record' straight From Page 33 Bean's semi-final time at those same Carifta Games was 11.81 and, as mentioned, her gold-medal winning time 11.96 -- neither fast enough to qualify for that year's Commonwealth Games standard of 11.75.

At a US track meet in North Carolina, in June, 1998, Bean was voted the most outstanding female athlete, but her winning 100m time was 12.09.

And at the CAC Junior Track and Field Championships in Cayman in July of 1998, she managed only fourth place in the final in 12.18, having clocked 12.00 in a previous heat. Ironically, at that same meet, she won gold in the triple jump.

Not a great deal has been heard of the Bermudian's accomplishments since. She failed to make the Island's Commonwealth or Pan-Am Games squads, isn't seen as a candidate for this year's Olympics, and didn't even represent Bermuda at the recent Carifta Games in Grenada, although still young enough to compete in the under-20 division.

That in no way is meant to diminish Bean's undoubted talent -- but there remain sufficient grounds to seriously question a performance which BTFA chief Simmons is now seemingly attempting to portray as legitimate and legal.

It should also be noted that following the Carifta Games of 1998, Amadeo Francis, the IAAF's North American, Central American and Caribbean representative, confirmed that several times in Trinidad were hand-timed, after the electronic system failed. The IAAF will not recognise hand-timed events because the margin of error is too great.

Francis noted that in one case where both electronic and manual timing was used, times varied by as much as 1.05 seconds.

In May, 1998, Winfried Kramer, IAAF national records chairman, told The Royal Gazette that an investigation into the Carifta meet of April that year had concluded that Bean's heat had been hand-timed only, and therefore any record could not be ratified by the world governing body.

But on Wednesday of this week, Simmons was telling ZBM viewers that it was now "accepted'' as a record.

So, should we now assume that Carifta and the BTFA are over-ruling the IAAF? And should Debbie Jones now consider herself the former record holder? *** AGAIN the silence was deafening.

Another week passed without so much as a peep from soccer's governing body.

No doubt they're relieved a season more tumultuous than most finally came to an end with last weekend's Cup Final and, with cricket due to start this week, hope and pray the disturbing events of the last few months will now quickly be forgotten.

But it's unlikely the footballing public will be so forgiving.

The World Cup debacle, the subsequent departures of technical director Clyde Best and national coach Robert Calderon, the accusations by national team players of an uncaring administration, and not least the confusion over English professionals Shaun Goater and Kyle Lightbourne, are all subjects that warrant an explanation.

Yet hopes of a Bermuda Football Association press conference, in which some light might have been shed on the above, perhaps with logical answers, remained just that.

Even after a meeting of club affiliates this week, it seemed no one was any the wiser -- and if they were, still the public remained in the dark.

PHC president Chris Furbert strangely accused the media of concentrating on "the negative stuff and ignoring the positive'', conveniently forgetting the hundreds of column inches devoted to his own team before and after their league championship win this season.

President Neville Tyrrell has offered to release a statement next week, but if past BFA statements are any guide, then we shouldn't expect too many revelations.

The BFA have a duty to the public to answer some frank questions with some honest answers. And if they think these issues will quickly be swept under the carpet simply because the season has ended, they're mistaken. This newspaper, for one, will continue to demand and search for some answers.

Soccer needs to move forward with a degree of confidence and sponsors need to be assured that the game is being run efficiently.

If the BFA have nothing to hide, they should have nothing to fear.

So why this almost paranoiac reluctance to respond to a few simple questions? -- ADRIAN ROBSON