CASLAV, Czech Republic — In 1983, at age 32, when most track athletes are beyond their fastest times, Jarmila Kratochvilova ran 800 meters in 1 minute 53.28 seconds. The result was so blistering and unprecedented that it has become track and field’s longest-standing outdoor world record.
And perhaps its most suspect.
Kratochvilova (KRA-toke-vee-lova) is 66 now, a pensioner and a youth coach here in rural Bohemia, about 65 miles southeast of Prague. She has been retired from competition for three decades. But her career may soon be shaken retroactively as track and field officials attempt to restore credibility to a sport hit by repeated doping scandals.