WITH the practised ease of an organisation which has never baulked at putting expediency before ethics, the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) yesterday dismissed the possibility of revising the format of the women's 5,000 metres championship.

Although the declared field of 48 far exceeds the 39 permitted for a double round championship, the IAAF had no hesitation in bending its own rules to meet the demands of both the organisers of the Games and the TV moguls who fund them.

It means that the event will now proceed as scheduled, with the first four in each of this evening's three heats, plus the three fastest losers, qualifying for Sunday's final.

They run the risk of turning the championship into something of a lottery, with so many jostling for space on the track. Against that, there appeared to be no appetite among the athletes for the gruelling schedule of running three 5,000 metres races on consecutive days in Atlanta's oppressive heat and humidity.

"There are times when common sense has to take precedence and this is one of them," said an IAAF spokesman after the Federation's technical committee had voted overwhelmingly to spare competitors the physical demands of a third race.

The ruling will be welcomed by, among others, Sonia O'Sullivan, who had expressed some concern at the proposed change in the programme on her arrival in the Olympic city on Wednesday.

An extra race would, almost certainly, have persuaded her to revise her decision to pursue both the 1,500 and 5,000 metres titles.

She will now have a full 48 hours to recover before, hopefully, taking her place on the start line for Sunday's final and, later in the week, returning for the preliminaries of the 1500 metres.

O'Sullivan still has to legislate for the superb Chinese athlete, Wang Junxia, who has now been spared the difficult decision of choosing between the 5,000 and the 10,000 as her preferred event.

Wang will now be able to mount significant challenges for both titles, but, significantly, the Ethiopian, Deratu Tula and Portugal's Feranda Ribero have withdrawn at the shorter distance to concentrate on the 10,000.

O'Sullivan will be hoping that her luck in yesterday's draw holds good for the rest of the programme for she will run in what, on paper at least, appears to be the easiest of the three heats.

Her seasonal best of 14 minutes 48.41 seconds, recorded in her last big test in London a fortnight ago, puts her in a different league to those who will join her at the start. Of these, the most interesting could be the Chinese representative, Siju Yang, who has little known form.

Lynn Jennings and Elena Fidatov, the two veterans in the race at the age of 36 and 35, respectively can scarcely be expected to stay with O'Sullivan when she turns up the tempo over the last kilometre, while others like Isabel Martinez (Spain), Lydia Ceromei (Kenya), and Britain's Alison Wyath have been met and mastered in Grand Prix competition.

Marie McMahon will be Ireland's standard bearer in the second heat in which Wang's name dwarfs all others. The heat also includes such experienced runners as Mary Slaney (US), "Rose Cheruiyot (Kenya), Ana Dias (Portugal) and Paula Ratcliffe (Britain). In those circumstances, McMahon will be doing well to emerge as one of the four automatic qualifiers.

Gabrielle Szabo, the young Romanian who is seen by some as the biggest threat to O'Sullivan, goes in the last heat in which Cathy McCandless, a newcomer to this level of competition, will ensure an element of Irish interest.

Zohra Quaziz (Morocco), who came out of the pack to secure a bronze medal in the world 5,000 metres championship in Gothenburg, is a potential threat to Szabo.

Given the broad parameters of qualification, it is inconceivable that O'Sullivan will fail to book a place among the 15 finalists and, with just a little good fortune, she could be joined there by either McMahon or McCandless.

Jimmy McDonald, who finished sixth in the event in Barcelona, four years ago, will be the first Irish competitor in action this morning when he takes his place in the 20km walk. Since Barcelona, McDonald has been troubled by a recurring injury and must produce significant improvement to repeat his commendable 1992 performance.

Neil Ryan, the first Irishman to compete in the 100 metres championship since Paddy Lowry in Rome in 1960, cannot be realistically expected to survive the preliminaries, a remark which likewise, applies to Eugene Farrell in the 400 metres.