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Unwilling campers?
Some MVP athletes not at JAAA-run training facility ahead of World Champs
BY KAYON RAYNOR, Senior staff reporter
raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, August 08, 2009
SOME members of the MVP Track Club have failed to arrive for Jamaica's mandatory pre-World Championships camp in Nuremberg, Germany, which started on Thursday, reigniting the controversy which rocked last year's Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA)-organised pre-Olympic camp in Tianjin, China.
POWELL. during a training session ahead of the Beijing Olympics in China last year. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
Paul Doyle, the agent of former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell, Olympic 400m silver medallist Shericka Williams, and two-time world 100m hurdle medallist Brigitte Foster-Hylton, yesterday confirmed that his clients would not be attending the six-day camp.
"Well, they're training in Italy and receiving treatment from the clinic there and getting their training in (done) there and there's no reason for them to go to the camp early, and to be honest, JAAAs has never once sent a message to me that the camp was mandatory. Only the media has been telling me that it's mandatory," Doyle said, noting that another of his clients, Michael Frater, the 2005 world 100m silver medallist, would be arriving at the JAAA-run camp today.
"Frater arrives there tomorrow (today) for the camp because I think he's supposed to be there for relay practice from what I understand, and the others (Asafa, Shericka and Foster-Hylton) will go straight into Berlin on the 11th," he added.
Asked whether MVP head coach Stephen Francis was notified that the JAAA camp was mandatory, Doyle replied: "I can only speak for myself. I was never notified that it was mandatory." He added that another of his clients, 400m hurdler Markino Buckley, did arrive at the JAAA's camp on Thursday.
FOSTER-HYLTON. will go straight into Berlin on Tuesday. (Photo: Paul Reid)
The other MVP athletes, who the Observer could confirm arrived in the camp on Thursday, were Christine Day and Anneisha McLaughlin. It was unclear whether Olympic 100m and 400m hurdles champions Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melaine Walker would be attending the camp.
When the Observer contacted MVP president Bruce James yesterday afternoon for a comment on the matter, he could not shed any further light on the issue: "I have been trying to contact my technical staff in Europe to find out what the status is, but I've been unable to get through to them based on the time of day... because they are so many hours ahead of us (in Jamaica)."
Head of Jamaica's delegation for the 12th IAAF World Championship in Berlin, Trevor 'TC' Campbell, shied away from confirming whether members of the MVP Track Club had indeed failed to arrive at the camp on the prescribed date.
WILLIAMS. will go straight into Berlin on Tuesday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
"I can't tell you anything else, you've spoken to the agent; that's what he's telling you... I'm not here to counter that, counteract it. I'm not here to add or subtract anything from it," Campbell told the Observer from his room at the Herzog Park Hotel in Nuremberg yesterday.
The Jamaican team leader further fumed: "You can check what you want to check, I'm not preventing you from checking. I'm telling you that I'm not saying anything to you... We had an agreement, I told you straight that I'm afraid of speaking to you and I'm serious and that still holds. I will no longer speak to you."
Pressed to say whether the camp was mandatory, Campbell, a past Olympian, insisted. "Sir, I told you that I will no longer speak to you. Now the next time I say that I'm going to hang the phone up!"
As a result, the Observer was unable to ascertain whether any other athlete outside of the MVP Track Club in Jamaica's team had failed to arrive in the camp as mandated by the JAAA.
On June 22, JAAA president Howard Aris, who had indicated that top coaches, including Glen Mills and Stephen Francis, were consulted during the selection process for the camp venue, said he believed that things would go much smoother this summer as most of the athletes will be based in Europe in the lead up to the 12th IAAF Championships in Berlin.
"They (athletes) are due in on the sixth (of August). They will be notified the moment the team has been selected and we'll make an announcement," Aris said at the time.
Last summer, several MVP athletes, including Powell, did not arrive on time at the JAAA's mandatory pre-Olympic camp in Tianjin, sparking discontent within the Jamaican team, including a war or words between Francis and the management team.
Some MVP athletes not at JAAA-run training facility ahead of World Champs
BY KAYON RAYNOR, Senior staff reporter
raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, August 08, 2009
SOME members of the MVP Track Club have failed to arrive for Jamaica's mandatory pre-World Championships camp in Nuremberg, Germany, which started on Thursday, reigniting the controversy which rocked last year's Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA)-organised pre-Olympic camp in Tianjin, China.
POWELL. during a training session ahead of the Beijing Olympics in China last year. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)Paul Doyle, the agent of former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell, Olympic 400m silver medallist Shericka Williams, and two-time world 100m hurdle medallist Brigitte Foster-Hylton, yesterday confirmed that his clients would not be attending the six-day camp.
"Well, they're training in Italy and receiving treatment from the clinic there and getting their training in (done) there and there's no reason for them to go to the camp early, and to be honest, JAAAs has never once sent a message to me that the camp was mandatory. Only the media has been telling me that it's mandatory," Doyle said, noting that another of his clients, Michael Frater, the 2005 world 100m silver medallist, would be arriving at the JAAA-run camp today.
"Frater arrives there tomorrow (today) for the camp because I think he's supposed to be there for relay practice from what I understand, and the others (Asafa, Shericka and Foster-Hylton) will go straight into Berlin on the 11th," he added.
Asked whether MVP head coach Stephen Francis was notified that the JAAA camp was mandatory, Doyle replied: "I can only speak for myself. I was never notified that it was mandatory." He added that another of his clients, 400m hurdler Markino Buckley, did arrive at the JAAA's camp on Thursday.
FOSTER-HYLTON. will go straight into Berlin on Tuesday. (Photo: Paul Reid)The other MVP athletes, who the Observer could confirm arrived in the camp on Thursday, were Christine Day and Anneisha McLaughlin. It was unclear whether Olympic 100m and 400m hurdles champions Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melaine Walker would be attending the camp.
When the Observer contacted MVP president Bruce James yesterday afternoon for a comment on the matter, he could not shed any further light on the issue: "I have been trying to contact my technical staff in Europe to find out what the status is, but I've been unable to get through to them based on the time of day... because they are so many hours ahead of us (in Jamaica)."
Head of Jamaica's delegation for the 12th IAAF World Championship in Berlin, Trevor 'TC' Campbell, shied away from confirming whether members of the MVP Track Club had indeed failed to arrive at the camp on the prescribed date.
WILLIAMS. will go straight into Berlin on Tuesday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)"I can't tell you anything else, you've spoken to the agent; that's what he's telling you... I'm not here to counter that, counteract it. I'm not here to add or subtract anything from it," Campbell told the Observer from his room at the Herzog Park Hotel in Nuremberg yesterday.
The Jamaican team leader further fumed: "You can check what you want to check, I'm not preventing you from checking. I'm telling you that I'm not saying anything to you... We had an agreement, I told you straight that I'm afraid of speaking to you and I'm serious and that still holds. I will no longer speak to you."
Pressed to say whether the camp was mandatory, Campbell, a past Olympian, insisted. "Sir, I told you that I will no longer speak to you. Now the next time I say that I'm going to hang the phone up!"
As a result, the Observer was unable to ascertain whether any other athlete outside of the MVP Track Club in Jamaica's team had failed to arrive in the camp as mandated by the JAAA.
On June 22, JAAA president Howard Aris, who had indicated that top coaches, including Glen Mills and Stephen Francis, were consulted during the selection process for the camp venue, said he believed that things would go much smoother this summer as most of the athletes will be based in Europe in the lead up to the 12th IAAF Championships in Berlin.
"They (athletes) are due in on the sixth (of August). They will be notified the moment the team has been selected and we'll make an announcement," Aris said at the time.
Last summer, several MVP athletes, including Powell, did not arrive on time at the JAAA's mandatory pre-Olympic camp in Tianjin, sparking discontent within the Jamaican team, including a war or words between Francis and the management team.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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