British track officials broke their own rules...

British track officials broke their own rules to give decathlete Daley Thompson, a two-time gold medalist, a last chance to qualify for his fifth Olympics when he said he would recover from a shoulder injury before the start of the Olympics on July 25.

The officials had said before Sunday’s AAA Championships in London that no athlete would be given extra time to qualify for the Barcelona Games. Instead, however, Thompson was given until July 10 to reach the qualifying standard of 7,850 points.

“I can understand that it might be seen as controversial, but we’ve made a special exception for a special man--Daley Thompson,” said Tony Ward, a spokesman for the team selectors. “We think we owe it to him.”

Thompson, 33, set the world decathlon record of 8,847 points in 1984.