Dear Editor,
It has been two weeks since the second staging of the IAAF World Relay Championships in The Bahamas -- a meet that returned generally good performances from the Jamaican contingent, but now seems destined to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. In fact, it could be argued that this meet has become the flashpoint for previously seething resentment within the body politic of Jamaica's athletics community and its unfolding makes for anything but pretty watching.
The current turn of events have been unfortunate, especially at a time when the island's athletes and coaches ought to be focused on preparation for the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China. Instead, the track and field environment is being rocked by this ongoing controversy sparked by the withdrawal of MVP athletes previously selected for the meet and underlined by the removal of their marquee athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by that training outfit's decision-makers from participating in the women's 4x100 metres final at the relay championships.
Significantly enough, this isn't the first time that an outbound team of Jamaican athletes connected with MVP Track Club has been the source of dispute. This was highlighted by the failure of MVP athletes to report to a training camp ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and repeated a year later when the same members of MVP failed to report to the team camp ahead of the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
The current issue has been played out in a ubiquitous techno-media environment with obvious global reach, providing continuing fodder for the critics, and only serves to undermine the value of the seminal contributions from our athletes, coaches and administrators who, through their selfless efforts, laid the foundation for Jamaica's athletic prowess since 1948 in London, England.
In the ensuing 67 years, Jamaican dominance on the track has made our programme the target of the world's attention to the extent that more and more of the world's top athletes and athletic institutions have trained their attention on our activities in the sport. It follows that the negative publicity that the current imbroglio generates does no good for the participants nor the islands' reputation.
At a time when there is so much negative coming out of the island, the athletics programme has provided a huge fillip not only for Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora, but for our youth with athletic abilities. Today, track in Jamaica is deemed a "religion", and with its growth, so too has developed a brand new industry under the sporting umbrella for our impressionable youth. It is for this reason that we must collectively demand a halt to the charges and counter-charges and to challenge those with responsibility for athletics administration to lead. Between the Ministry of Sports and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, there is an immediate need for all the parties, including MVP and Racers Track Club, to come to the table and to resolve this and any other simmering issues.
There is no question as to the abilities of coaches Glen Mills and Stephen Francis, as the full capacities of both is a matter of record. What is unacceptable, though, is the attempt by the leadership of either camp or their representatives to engage in behaviour that impugns the integrity, not only of either side, but the making of utterances which will cause irreparable damage to Jamaica's reputation in the sport. To my mind, Jamaica's athletics programme is bigger than any single individual.
Richard Hugh Blackford
Coral Springs, Florida, USA
richardhblackford@gmail.com
Time for real sports leadership to step forward
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It has been two weeks since the second staging of the IAAF World Relay Championships in The Bahamas -- a meet that returned generally good performances from the Jamaican contingent, but now seems destined to be remembered for all the wrong reasons. In fact, it could be argued that this meet has become the flashpoint for previously seething resentment within the body politic of Jamaica's athletics community and its unfolding makes for anything but pretty watching.
The current turn of events have been unfortunate, especially at a time when the island's athletes and coaches ought to be focused on preparation for the upcoming IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China. Instead, the track and field environment is being rocked by this ongoing controversy sparked by the withdrawal of MVP athletes previously selected for the meet and underlined by the removal of their marquee athlete Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce by that training outfit's decision-makers from participating in the women's 4x100 metres final at the relay championships.
Significantly enough, this isn't the first time that an outbound team of Jamaican athletes connected with MVP Track Club has been the source of dispute. This was highlighted by the failure of MVP athletes to report to a training camp ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and repeated a year later when the same members of MVP failed to report to the team camp ahead of the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.
The current issue has been played out in a ubiquitous techno-media environment with obvious global reach, providing continuing fodder for the critics, and only serves to undermine the value of the seminal contributions from our athletes, coaches and administrators who, through their selfless efforts, laid the foundation for Jamaica's athletic prowess since 1948 in London, England.
In the ensuing 67 years, Jamaican dominance on the track has made our programme the target of the world's attention to the extent that more and more of the world's top athletes and athletic institutions have trained their attention on our activities in the sport. It follows that the negative publicity that the current imbroglio generates does no good for the participants nor the islands' reputation.
At a time when there is so much negative coming out of the island, the athletics programme has provided a huge fillip not only for Jamaicans at home and in the diaspora, but for our youth with athletic abilities. Today, track in Jamaica is deemed a "religion", and with its growth, so too has developed a brand new industry under the sporting umbrella for our impressionable youth. It is for this reason that we must collectively demand a halt to the charges and counter-charges and to challenge those with responsibility for athletics administration to lead. Between the Ministry of Sports and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, there is an immediate need for all the parties, including MVP and Racers Track Club, to come to the table and to resolve this and any other simmering issues.
There is no question as to the abilities of coaches Glen Mills and Stephen Francis, as the full capacities of both is a matter of record. What is unacceptable, though, is the attempt by the leadership of either camp or their representatives to engage in behaviour that impugns the integrity, not only of either side, but the making of utterances which will cause irreparable damage to Jamaica's reputation in the sport. To my mind, Jamaica's athletics programme is bigger than any single individual.
Richard Hugh Blackford
Coral Springs, Florida, USA
richardhblackford@gmail.com
Time for real sports leadership to step forward
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