– IAAF intervenes and gets Jamaican star athletes reinstated
BERLIN, Germany, CMC – A dramatic intervention by the IAAF has forced Jamaica’s track and field officials to reverse a decision to axe Olympic champions Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melaine Walker and star sprinter Asafa Powell from their World Championship team.
The Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) had expelled the three athletes and other MVP Track Club team-mates from the team for failure to attend a training camp, but reversed the decision at the request of the IAAF.
Early yesterday, the JAAA had sent a letter to the IAAF President Lamine Diack, requesting that the athletes be dropped after they failed to attend a “mandatory” national training camp in Nuremberg this week.
The IAAF admitted late yesterday that they – as the world governing body — put pressure on the Jamaican federation to change its mind because the exclusion of the prominent athletes would reflect badly on the championship.
“We asked Jamaica to reconsider in the interest of sport,” IAAF general secretary Pierre Weiss said.
Howard Aris, the president of the JAAA, confirmed that they agreed to comply with the world governing body’s request.
“They asked us to put aside domestic interests for the greater good of the sport, so we have agreed to withdraw the letter sent into Lamine Diack,” Aris told reporters.
Conflicts have been ongoing between the JAAA and the MVP Track Club, headed by Stephen Francis, and a similar situation had surfaced last year when MVP athletes had also missed a pre-Olympic training camp.
The lifting of the ban clears the way for key athletes Fraser, Walker and Powell to compete at the 12th IAAF World Championship, starting Saturday.
Fraser brilliantly won the women’s 100 metres at the Beijing Olympics last summer and Walker copped the 400-metre hurdles gold in an Olympic record 52.64 seconds to contribute to an awesome all-time best Olympic showing by Jamaicans, who tallied six gold, three silver and two bronze in the Birds Nest.
Powell, a disappointment at major championships in an otherwise potent career, is the second fastest man of all time and a strong medal candidate for the 100 metres in Berlin.
With a season’s best 9.88 seconds, only his Jamaican team-mate Usain Bolt (9.79) and American Tyson Gay (9.77) have been quicker this year. The other MVP athletes involved in the training camp controversy are former World Championship sprint hurdles medallist Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Shericka Williams, a 400-metre silver medallist in Beijing last year, and 400-metre runner Kaliese Spencer.
Although being cleared to compete in Berlin, the six athletes could still face disciplinary action following the championships.
