Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco won't defend his 3,000-meter title at the indoor track World Championships. He withdrew to train for the outdoor season and outdoor World Championships in August. However, 100-meter world champion Zhanna Block -- formerly known as Zhanna Pintusevich-Block -- plans to compete in the 60 at Birmingham. She hasn't run at the world indoor meet since 1993, when she won bronze in the 60.
Paula Radcliffe of Britain is considering competing in the 10,000 and the marathon at the 2004 Athens Games. The schedule would have to be changed because the marathon is scheduled to precede the 10,000 final by five days and it would take longer to recover from a marathon. However, the International Assn. of Athletics Federations changed the schedule at the 1996 Atlanta Games to allow Michael Johnson to run in the 200 and the 400 and said it's amenable to a similar change in Athens. No woman has ever won the 10,000 and the marathon in the same Games. The only man to pull off that remarkable feat was Czech runner Emil Zatopek at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
