By Kiev Chesney
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) said yesterday that Alika Morgan, the country’s premier middle and long distance athlete was their number one choice for the World Junior Championships which was held last week in Poland.
“After we realized that [Annalisa] Austin was unable to attend the games and we decided to send an unqualified athlete, Alika Morgan at the top of the list,” Blackmore said at press conference at the Olympic House yesterday morning.
The AAG president initially stated that Morgan was not selected because she was engaged in other commitments at the time.
However, Blackmore first said she was selected but not informed of her selection and later said that she was not selected but rather just considered as one of the possible choices for the games.
Some of the other prospects were Oslyn Collins, who ended up being the lone participant, Treiston Joseph of the Royal Youth Movement and Leota Bobb of the Progressive Youth Club (Police) because they fulfilled the aged requirement of the games.
Of the four athletes, Blackmore said that Joseph was injured and Bobb was returning from the Trinidad National Junior Champion-ships.
The AAG president could not logically explain to the media why Morgan was bypassed.
He eventually said that the association was forced to make a hasty decision after learning that Austin who had qualified for the event, pulled out due to injury.
He said the AAG tried to avoid having to pay the fine of US$1000 which they would have been charged if the did not send an athlete.
Blackmore explained they AAG wanted to avoid being fined so much so that they decided on the safest choice for the games which was Collins since she was training in Trinidad and her documentation would have been processed along with the Trinidadian contingent’s.
Blackmore told the media that Morgan was not chosen because of the fact that she was awaiting a date to go into the US Embassy in order to attend the Beijing Olympic games.
He explained that Morgan had missed her June 11 appointment with the embassy because she had to write an examination on the same date and she was given August 5 as the next appointment date.
However, Blackmore said that date would not have allowed her to go to Beijing and on the intervention of the GOA Morgan was to go into the embassy but Blackmore said he was not certain of the new date.
When asked if the AAG contacted her to ask whether she could attend the games or whether she was willing to choose the IAAF meet ahead of one of the other events that she was supposed to attend, the AAG president said no.
Collins eventually placed seventh in the first heat of the 400m clocking what was by far the slowest time of all five heats for the event (1:01.20s).
When asked to comment on Collins’ performance last Tuesday at the games, Blackmore said he did not know what she did at the games and that he is still awaiting a report from the Trinidadian coach who accompanied her before he would be able to give a report on her performance.
