"Pitiful," Sdiri said this week. "Not a message in seven months, not the slightest gesture on their part, not even an e-mail. "Our sport has a program for locating athletes who are in the top 10 or 15 in each event. Every three months, we have a schedule to fill out for unannounced doping tests, so they can come anytime. They came to me one night at my house at 9 p.m. They have come at 7 a.m.; they have come to the U.S.A. when we were in training camps. It seems they are never late for this."

"We're like little pawns," he added. "If one of us goes down, they don't care. The show goes on, or so it seems."

Nick Davies, the IAAF spokesman, said in an e-mail message that the IAAF had kept abreast of Sdiri's situation by communicating with the French athletics federation. "When he says that the IAAF 'never replied to him,' that is not the same as saying that we were not concerned," Davies said.

There is also the issue of compensation. Sdiri, through his legal representatives, has contacted both the IAAF and the organizers of the meet in Rome to seek payment for earnings lost because of the accident.

That only seems reasonable, considering that Sdiri is clearly a victim in this instance. But for now the issue remains unresolved, as does the debate over how the sport can avoid a repeat. The throwing events, particularly the hammer and javelin, carry inherent risks, and some, including Sdiri, have suggested that the javelin be staged early or late when no other events are underway. But the consensus is that the bigger problem is stadium configuration. In Rome, the jumping pits were in the infield instead of on the outside of the track, which seems, by far, the safer option.

Sdiri, understandably, has vowed never to jump again if a javelin competition is under way, no matter how many assurances he gets. "For a long jump competition you have to be concentrated," he said. "You think I could be concentrated with javelins flying through the air? I don't care if it's the final of the Olympics."

The Olympic qualifying standard set by the French federation in the long jump is 8.20 meters, not far from Sdiri's lifetime best, and he will have to reach that standard after June 12 in order to guarantee his spot on the French team. Rejecting any sympathy votes, Desmier thinks that if her pupil cannot jump 8.20, he does not deserve to go.