The bitter row dividing the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) and BLE on the clothing to be worn by the Irish team in Sydney next year was back in the domain of the athletics authorities yesterday.

Speaking after the IAAF congress in Seville, the general secretary, Istvan Gyulai of Hungary, traversed familiar terrain by insisting that the federation retains primacy in all track and field issues in Olympic competition.

"Our position is, as it always has been, we have direct responsibility for the organisation and presentation of all athletics events on the Olympic programme," Gyulai said.

"And on the specific point of clothing, all uniforms worn must have the approval of the national federation involved. There have been differences in this area in several countries in recent years, but our policy is always the same: our member federations have the final say.

"The Irish federation has been advised that there is no change in our policy and they will have our full support in any further discussions on the matter with the Olympic Federation in Ireland."

That reassurance sought and, it seems, readily given was received with predictable enthusiasm by BLE officials here. "From our point of view, there was never any ambiguity about rule 12 in the IAAF handbook: clothing worn by our athletes in Sydney must first be approved by us," said Chris Wall, BLE's international secretary. "As a gesture of good will, we offered the Olympic Council of Ireland a compromise which would have met both our interests, but, unfortunately, this was not acceptable to them. It is shame that the problem is now being allowed to drag on, but the bottom line is that we simply cannot afford to break a legally binding contract with our sponsors, Asics.

Despite the IAAF's renewed intervention, the stance of the OCI stance is unlikely to shift from that outlined by its president, Pat Hickey at a press briefing in Dublin last week.

He maintained that all disciplines on the Olympic programme come within the aegis of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and that, according to the Olympic charter, the IAAF and, by extension, BLE must tow the line in Sydney. To cede the decision to the athletics authority, he insists, would be to jeopardise the OCI contract with Adidas, which the council says is worth £600,000 over the four-year Olympic cycle.

Meanwhile, there was disappointment yesterday for Al Guy when he lost out by just six votes to the general secretary of the Portuguese federation, Jorge Salcevo, for the prestigious post of chairman of the IAAF's technical committee.

Guy's candidature appeared to enjoy the support of Primo Nebiolo, the IAAF president, but the late intervention of other contenders upset predictions and the Irishman lost out to Salcevo on a 98-92 vote.

Chris Wall also polled well in his attempt to be elected to the IAAF's cross-country and road racing committee, but narrowly failed to win the last of the nine places on offer.

Cuban long jumper Ivan Pedroso returned to a familiar theme yesterday: his desire to become the first man to breach the nine metre barrier.

The 1995 and 1997 world champion talked before both championships of the possibility of leaping into uncharted territory, but in the end he had to settle for just the gold medals.

This time though he is hoping that it will be third time lucky for his assault on the historic mark.

"Nine metres? That's my overwhelming objective before anything else," he said told the Spanish daily paper El Mundo. "I want to be the first person to go that far."

The world record for the event stands at 8.95 to the American long jumper Mike Powell, set at the 1991 world championships, when Powell triumphed in a memorable duel with Carl Lewis.