Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association President Dr Warren Blake says Jamaica might have to send two separate teams to the World Athletics Championships and Commonwealth Games in 2022 as the events are scheduled to be held days apart.
Two weeks ago, World Athletics announced that the dates of the Eugene, Oregon World Championships have been pushed back to July 15-24, 2022, to accommodate the shift of the Tokyo Games to 2021 because of the outbreak of the new coronavirus.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games will a mere three days after the last race is run on the west coast in the United States.
But Blake believes the best way to remedy the problem is to send separate teams to both events.
“I don’t think that they will push back the Commonwealth Games, so I think what we will do is send separate teams to both events, because it will be difficult for them to do both,” he said. “Some of the senior athletes won’t want to go to the Commonwealth Games.”
Blake said the situation will provide an opportunity for the up-and-coming athletes to make a senior team.
FUTURE EVENTS
Last week, Jamaica Olympic Association President Christopher Samuda warned athletes not to be too ‘preferential’ when they make their plans for the 2022 athletics calendar.
“From a Jamaican perspective, the track and field athletes have placed a lot of premium on the World Championships,” Samuda said. “The Olympic Games is always at the pinnacle, the Commonwealth Games, the Central America and Caribbean Games, and the Pan American Games are second cousins. People have missed championships for one reason or another. So, athletes shouldn’t be preferential or too selective. An athlete has a shelf life and ,therefore, they should take advantage of all competitions that come your way, because you never know if you are going to be fit the next season around.”
(Reprinted from Jamaica Gleaner)
