AAG blundered – GOA

Conrad Plummer
Conrad Plummer

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.”

Ivor O’BrienO’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.

Conrad PlummerAccording 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.