When the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI) approved Samuel Okantey's transfer from Ghana they no doubt thought he would be making headlines. Just not the type of headlines he's been the subject of lately!

It was reported by several reputable sources including the BBC that Samuel Okantey; an athlete from Ghana that recently declared for Ireland and competes for the Dublin City Harriers set the Irish Indoor triple jump record. It was stated that Okantey jumped 17.11m in a meet held in Maryland, USA breaking Colm Cronin's record of 16.27m set in 1n Detroit, Michigan, USA on 10th March 1978. Irish Runner.com scoured the results from recent meetings held at the Prince George's Sports Complex in Landover, Maryland including chats with local track meet directors and could not find any result with Okantey in the triple jump event, much less with a record setting performance.

Irish Runner.com mistakenly stated that Okantey was coached by Paul Doyle and trained with his Speed Dynamics squad; an elite training group based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA that includes several Irish athletes including Karen Shinkins, Peter Coghlan and Ciaran McDonagh. Doyle has never been Okantey's coach; Okantey has never trained with the Speed Dynamics group. In fact, Okantey lives more than 10 hours away from Atlanta in the Washington, DC area. Doyle stated, "I only met Sam on three occasions but had many phone conversations with him in regards to competitions."

Doyle was quick to report to the IAAF, AAI and Mirko Jalava's statistical database (www.tilastopaja.com) the suspicion surrounding the alleged performances. Doyle formally severed his Athletics Representative (agent-handler) relationship with a formal letter to Okantey mentioning he was "appalled at the lack of integrity" and "simply refuses to be associated with such dishonesty."

Initially like many Irish athletics aficionados, Doyle was obviously excited that Okantey broke the 24-year-old record and reported it in his Speed Dynamics Newsletter. Once he sensed improprieties, the honourable Doyle was quick to investigate the situation and notify the appropriate organisations. Doyle who leads the group said in a communiqué, "I would like to apologise for a mistake written in my recent newsletter." He continues, "In the newsletter I stated that Samuel Okantey had jumped a World leading mark of 17.11m in the triple jump. At the time I believed this to be true, but it has since been brought to my attention that the results of the meeting in which Sam had supposedly jumped this distance were completely fabricated results. The results were actually from a meet that had taken place in February 2002, and the date of the meet was changed and the performance of Samuel Okantey was changed from 16.16m to 17.11m and the results were submitted to the IAAF and to the World's leading statistics authority, Tilastopaja.com. All of Samuel's fabricated results will be stricken from record and punishments will be enforced on all responsible parties."

AAI added that Okantey's mark would no longer be considered for National Record ratification.