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AAG blundered – GOA

- Plummer says Morgan’s club can demand answers from AAG

General Secretary of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) Ivor O’Brien said yesterday that the Athletic Association of Guyana (AAG) committed a major blunder in its choice of Guyana’s representative to the World Junior Championships in Poland.

O’Brien was reacting to the decision by the AAG to select Oslyn Collins ahead of Alika Morgan for the World Junior Championships which starts in Bydgoszcs, Poland on Tuesday.

In an invited comment O’Brien yesterday told Stabroek Sport:” If the results as stated are true then the AAG made a blunder.”

O’Brien was referring to Collins’s participation at the Hampton International Games in Trinidad earlier this year where she clocked 1:00:94s for sixth place (of six contestants) in the 400m and 2:31s for 12th place (of 12 contestants) in the 800m.

Compare her performances on the international scene (last on both occasions) To Morgan’s stellar achievements over the years and the question to be asked is “How come?”

While president of the AAG Claude Blackmore remains tightlipped on the issue, the AAG’s Chairman of Development, Cornel Rose explained that Collins’s name was submitted to the International Amateur Ath-letic Federation (IAAF) following the withdrawal of Annalisa Austin who had qualified for the 100m but had pulled out through injury.

According to Rose, Collins was selected in order for the AAG to avoid paying the fines attached to not participating in the event coupled with the fact that the AAG had already purchased a ticket for a female.

But O’Brien pointed out that Alika Morgan was, like Collins, a female adding that the reasons given by Rose “was too hard to swallow.”

Meanwhile former Chair-man of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Conrad Plummer said he was unable to state if there was anything wrong with the selection since he was not involved in the process.

The former national hockey player said he had no idea what was the criteria for selection pointing out that a lot of factors might be at play adding: “They pick people for developmental purposes.”

Stating that nobody in Guyana should be given a raw deal whether it was a police matter or otherwise Plummer declared: “But I think we have to presume innocence until proven otherwise.”

“We have to believe that the selectors are there to select athletes for various teams and that they have established criteria,” he added.

Pummer said he did not approve of the way Morgan’s coach handled the issue.

He said there are various channels for dealing with such issues one of which was an approach by Morgan’s club to the AAG since it was an internal matter.

“They are the ones who will pick it up… they are justified,” he added.

O’Brien said the GOA had no jurisdiction over the AAG in this matter since the World Championships came under the jurisdiction of the IAAF and not the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Nonetheless O’Brien said the GOA had:“Disassociated itself from this selection.”

This is the second occasion in recent times that the GOA has distanced itself from the AAG over a selection matter.

In the previous instance the GOA called a press conference to state that they had in fact selected Joe Ryan, Aliann Pompey’s coach as Guyana’s track and field coach to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China in August after Blackmore had earlier denied that Ryan was appointed.

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6 Responses to “AAG blundered – GOA”

Trooper
on July 4th, 2008 7:34 am

How many more blunders will the AAG be allowed to make? The public not to mention the athletes who are most affected have seen more than enough. For too long our athletes have been subjected to dishonesty and vindictiveness from governing bodies that are often clarified wih John Public as a blunder. With all due respect to Mr O’Brien who has been one of the few respected name in Guyana’s sports, some of these blunders are more than blunders and must be dealt with more seriously. Are we going to sit back and let another one go through the back door? These associations and federations must be held accountable for their transgressions and face the consequences.
Investigate them!

[Reply to this]
justice4allguyana
on July 4th, 2008 10:25 am

I agree with Mr. Plummer, Morgan’s Coach should have approached the AAG on the issue before airing his mouth out to the Media. Every story has two sides. The journalist sorry the writer needs to do investigative work before he/she puts pen to paper.

[Reply to this]
Carl
on July 4th, 2008 11:24 am

Claude Blackmore and the AAG should be censured by Parliament for their disgusting disregard for the image of our country. Yes, I’m aware that many of our parliamentarians also deserve to be censured, but only our parliament can dispense the kind of rebuke that will make it quite clear that our sports associations must put our country’s image above personal friendships and the desire to settle scores.

By the way, Morgan’s coach was right to go to the media as this is a matter of national importance. Does anyone seriously believe that this is an internal matter when it is considered that the world would sit and watch a Guyanese athlete finish a 400- or 800-meters race a few minutes after it ended?

[Reply to this]
sniper
on July 4th, 2008 11:32 am

Bigups to Mr Obrien for coming forward and clearing this air.
I call for the immediate removal of Mr blackmooore and his fans from the AAG board. This guy is killing local athletics, he has been using his position to carry out personal vendettas for years and our most proud and gifted athletes are paying the cost because of this.
This guy is a old bitter man and he needs to go!, it’s seems as though in order to make tours and represent Guyana you have to be his friend and not have any opions contrary to his and if you or your coach/manager have a problem with anything he does it does’nt matter how good you are (Alika) you’ll always have this problem. I’m sick of this guy.

[Reply to this]
quickdimun
on July 6th, 2008 11:50 am

In responce to what Mr. Plummer’s statment the only criteria for selecting an athlete is the athlete’s performances. Also when it comes to the World Juniors you do not pick an athlete for development purposes, that why they are other meets during the year. Picking the world junior team is like slecting the best athletes to represent the Country at the Olympic.

[Reply to this]
foxy
on July 9th, 2008 2:33 pm

All of these officails need to stop their bickering. They are all trying to continue to fool people who they seem to think are naive. It is a know fact that to clear matters they would give the impression that they are against this and they are for this but in the end they support each other and act in the same way when the ball bounce in their part of the court. They are the same and one of a kind. So tomorrow they all going to be back hand in hand laughing and skinning teeth while the sports people suffering to get to the next level. Wait you going to see this die down and Blackmore going to do that again. Dont forget when Morgan was robbed during the National Sports Selection early this year none of them aint do nothing when they know one of the winners get curry favour. They behave like they dont have children who they trust into other peoples care and like they werent once children who depended on adults to be fair to them. Guyana please I beg you not to stand idly by. These officials only think of them not what the entire Guyana can benefit from. Get them all out.

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