Dear Editor,
To some this may seem like a strange question, but if we really stop to think of it, do we really seriously place meaningful value on the discipline beyond the medals won and the raised cheers?
I ask this after watching the free fall the sport has taken in the last six months as our critics mass together in ever expanding numbers, hurling charge after charge that the local agency responsible for drug testing of our athletes has fallen asleep on the job.
So comfortable have our critics become, that not only have they been criticising and denigrating our testing fiasco, but have stepped that up a considerable notch to make the call for a potential banning of Jamaica from the next Olympic Games. The worst part of that is there are some of us who seem to think that this is merely an idle threat. My sense is not only that the threat is real, but it serves as the greatest threat to our own success.
Since 1995 a total of 23 Jamaican athletes have been cited for using some type of banned substance or the other. More than half of the names on this list were outed between 2006 and 2013, including names such as Fraser-Pryce, Yohan Blake, Sherone Simpson, Steve Mullings, Marvin Anderson, Chris Williams, Lansford Spence, and Asafa Powell to name just some.
It certainly helps us none with the publication in the Wall Street Journal last week of an article questioning the veracity of the academic qualifications of Dr Herbert George Elliott, the JADCO chairman. Obviously, the programme in Jamaica is now completely under attack, and to attempt to defend against the preponderance of evidence is not the smartest of approach as the evidence is already there.
Criticising Anne Shirley too may provide a respite for others, but it does nothing to alter the negative perception that has now massed itself over Jamaica's track programme. Instead of seeing the Shirley story as a barometer and move to address the problems as raised, we attacked the messenger.
Jamaica's Olympic Association President Mike Fennel claims that the comments by senior figures like World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President John Fahey that they had "dropped the ball" damaged the reputation of Bolt, winner of three Olympic gold medals at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Reasonable argument this may be from Mike Fennell but guess what, we did drop the ball and we simply took too long to act. Unfortunately, not only Bolt suffers, Mr Fennell, Jamaica's 60-plus-year record becomes the main victim.
Obviously, we have failed to see the value that comes from our success and to appreciate that it must be properly defended. Let us get together some of the best brains available in the country, not just individuals involved in track and field, not political representatives, but people who understand how to run a business, how to build and defend a brand and from there set about reclaiming our dignity.
Richard Hugh Blackford
richardhblackford@gmail.com
How much value do we really place on track & field?
-->
To some this may seem like a strange question, but if we really stop to think of it, do we really seriously place meaningful value on the discipline beyond the medals won and the raised cheers?
I ask this after watching the free fall the sport has taken in the last six months as our critics mass together in ever expanding numbers, hurling charge after charge that the local agency responsible for drug testing of our athletes has fallen asleep on the job.
So comfortable have our critics become, that not only have they been criticising and denigrating our testing fiasco, but have stepped that up a considerable notch to make the call for a potential banning of Jamaica from the next Olympic Games. The worst part of that is there are some of us who seem to think that this is merely an idle threat. My sense is not only that the threat is real, but it serves as the greatest threat to our own success.
Since 1995 a total of 23 Jamaican athletes have been cited for using some type of banned substance or the other. More than half of the names on this list were outed between 2006 and 2013, including names such as Fraser-Pryce, Yohan Blake, Sherone Simpson, Steve Mullings, Marvin Anderson, Chris Williams, Lansford Spence, and Asafa Powell to name just some.
It certainly helps us none with the publication in the Wall Street Journal last week of an article questioning the veracity of the academic qualifications of Dr Herbert George Elliott, the JADCO chairman. Obviously, the programme in Jamaica is now completely under attack, and to attempt to defend against the preponderance of evidence is not the smartest of approach as the evidence is already there.
Criticising Anne Shirley too may provide a respite for others, but it does nothing to alter the negative perception that has now massed itself over Jamaica's track programme. Instead of seeing the Shirley story as a barometer and move to address the problems as raised, we attacked the messenger.
Jamaica's Olympic Association President Mike Fennel claims that the comments by senior figures like World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President John Fahey that they had "dropped the ball" damaged the reputation of Bolt, winner of three Olympic gold medals at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012. Reasonable argument this may be from Mike Fennell but guess what, we did drop the ball and we simply took too long to act. Unfortunately, not only Bolt suffers, Mr Fennell, Jamaica's 60-plus-year record becomes the main victim.
Obviously, we have failed to see the value that comes from our success and to appreciate that it must be properly defended. Let us get together some of the best brains available in the country, not just individuals involved in track and field, not political representatives, but people who understand how to run a business, how to build and defend a brand and from there set about reclaiming our dignity.
Richard Hugh Blackford
richardhblackford@gmail.com
How much value do we really place on track & field?
-->