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I can't believe what i just read! I'm dieing for them to be sanctioned so that litigation can begin.
Wobbly JAAA tries to clear the air
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior staff reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, September 05, 2009
THE Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) yesterday hosted a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel intended to clarify, inform and redefine its own image after the anarchy which rocked the country's record-breaking team at the just-concluded 12th IAAF World Championships of Athletics in Berlin, Germany.
However, after the nearly two-hour-long press conference, the general view was that there was no further clarity or information on the substantive issues relating to any written proof that the six athletes of the MVP track club who missed Jamaica's mandatory six-day pre-World Championships camp in Nuremberg, Germany were duly notified.
President of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) Howard Aris (left) points to a copy of a communiqué which was exchanged between the IAAF and the JAAA's dealing with Whereabouts Information for all team members ahead of the World Championships in Berlin, during a press conference yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. Grace Jackson, the 200m silver medallist from the 1988 Olympic Games, now first vice-president of the JAAA, looks on.(Photo: Bryan Cummings)
"We are here for several reasons... one is to clarify, to inform and the other is to try to redefine our own image because people have sought to redefine us and we can't allow that to happen," Howard Aris, president of the JAAA, said.
Aris supplied a press kit comprising five documents said to be correspondence between his organisation, uniform sponsors PUMA and newspaper articles referring to the camp being mandatory. A copy of the JAAA's selection criteria was also supplied.
But no evidence was presented concerning MVP's head coach Stephen Francis and/or the athletes concerned being notified in writing by the JAAA's that the camp was indeed mandatory.
"You're referring to the e-mail that was sent by Cathy Rattray. You'd like a copy of that. I don't have one," answered Aris after being quizzed by journalists.
"I'll tell you why it may not have been here and I didn't prepare for it, but let me tell you a possibility. You have something called a document of relevance and in the historical build-up of camps going back to when I was one of the coaches in Munich in 1972 at the Olympic Games, camps had been a standard for the Olympic Games and World Championships, from ever since, and therefore the possible assumption was that it was not necessary to produce that because that would only be a reminder," Aris added.
The Observer was later yesterday furnished with two e-mailed communiqués, dated July 27 and July 30, from the JAAA's Rattray to athletes, informing them of the date, time and address of the mandatory camp in Nuremberg, as well as seeking from the athletes their travel arrangements to Nuremberg, so that transportation to the camp could be arranged.
However, there was no evidence of this e-mail to specific athletes.
The six athletes who missed the camp were Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melaine Walker, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Asafa Powell, Shericka Williams and Kaleise Spencer. Their absence prompted Aris and the JAAA to take steps to have them withdrawn from the championships.
However, the IAAF intervened and the athletes were allowed to compete by the national association, which indicated at the time that sanctions could follow after the championships.
Jamaica ended the championships with a record 13 medals, comprising seven gold, four silver and two bronze. All of the six athletes in question contributed to the nation's medal tally. Fraser won the 100m and shared in the 4x100 gold, Walker won the 400m hurdles, Foster-Hylton won the 100m hurdles, Powell won bronze in the 100m and shared in the 4x100 gold, Williams won silver in the 400m and shared in the 4x400 relay silver, while Spencer also shared in the mile-relay silver.
Yesterday, Aris reiterated that his executive was awaiting the report from the management team, which in turn could be forwarded to the JAAA's independent disciplinary panel. The three-member panel, which was chosen in January, is chaired by former Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe. The other members are former Attorney General Winston Spaulding and former Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force Major General John Simmonds.
"As is customary, it depends on when the team comes back and when the management has some time to consult the other team members and coaches, because coaches sometimes are involved in the preparation of it. So traditionally, it usually takes about two to three weeks before returning to Jamaica and having it ready for the executive," Aris offered yesterday.
"Once it goes to the executive, the executive will look at it and take a decision, and if it is necessary for it to go to the (disciplinary) panel, it will then go," he added.
Pressed to disclose the possible sanctions that the panel could impose on the athletes, Aris replied: "They (disciplinary panel) are being guided by the rules of the IAAF and the JAAA's constitution. That's their guide."
Wobbly JAAA tries to clear the air
BY KAYON RAYNOR Senior staff reporter raynork@jamaicaobserver.com
Saturday, September 05, 2009
THE Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) yesterday hosted a press conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel intended to clarify, inform and redefine its own image after the anarchy which rocked the country's record-breaking team at the just-concluded 12th IAAF World Championships of Athletics in Berlin, Germany.
However, after the nearly two-hour-long press conference, the general view was that there was no further clarity or information on the substantive issues relating to any written proof that the six athletes of the MVP track club who missed Jamaica's mandatory six-day pre-World Championships camp in Nuremberg, Germany were duly notified.
President of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) Howard Aris (left) points to a copy of a communiqué which was exchanged between the IAAF and the JAAA's dealing with Whereabouts Information for all team members ahead of the World Championships in Berlin, during a press conference yesterday at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston. Grace Jackson, the 200m silver medallist from the 1988 Olympic Games, now first vice-president of the JAAA, looks on.(Photo: Bryan Cummings)
"We are here for several reasons... one is to clarify, to inform and the other is to try to redefine our own image because people have sought to redefine us and we can't allow that to happen," Howard Aris, president of the JAAA, said.
Aris supplied a press kit comprising five documents said to be correspondence between his organisation, uniform sponsors PUMA and newspaper articles referring to the camp being mandatory. A copy of the JAAA's selection criteria was also supplied.
But no evidence was presented concerning MVP's head coach Stephen Francis and/or the athletes concerned being notified in writing by the JAAA's that the camp was indeed mandatory.
"You're referring to the e-mail that was sent by Cathy Rattray. You'd like a copy of that. I don't have one," answered Aris after being quizzed by journalists.
"I'll tell you why it may not have been here and I didn't prepare for it, but let me tell you a possibility. You have something called a document of relevance and in the historical build-up of camps going back to when I was one of the coaches in Munich in 1972 at the Olympic Games, camps had been a standard for the Olympic Games and World Championships, from ever since, and therefore the possible assumption was that it was not necessary to produce that because that would only be a reminder," Aris added.
The Observer was later yesterday furnished with two e-mailed communiqués, dated July 27 and July 30, from the JAAA's Rattray to athletes, informing them of the date, time and address of the mandatory camp in Nuremberg, as well as seeking from the athletes their travel arrangements to Nuremberg, so that transportation to the camp could be arranged.
However, there was no evidence of this e-mail to specific athletes.
The six athletes who missed the camp were Shelly-Ann Fraser, Melaine Walker, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Asafa Powell, Shericka Williams and Kaleise Spencer. Their absence prompted Aris and the JAAA to take steps to have them withdrawn from the championships.
However, the IAAF intervened and the athletes were allowed to compete by the national association, which indicated at the time that sanctions could follow after the championships.
Jamaica ended the championships with a record 13 medals, comprising seven gold, four silver and two bronze. All of the six athletes in question contributed to the nation's medal tally. Fraser won the 100m and shared in the 4x100 gold, Walker won the 400m hurdles, Foster-Hylton won the 100m hurdles, Powell won bronze in the 100m and shared in the 4x100 gold, Williams won silver in the 400m and shared in the 4x400 relay silver, while Spencer also shared in the mile-relay silver.
Yesterday, Aris reiterated that his executive was awaiting the report from the management team, which in turn could be forwarded to the JAAA's independent disciplinary panel. The three-member panel, which was chosen in January, is chaired by former Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe. The other members are former Attorney General Winston Spaulding and former Chief of Staff of the Jamaica Defence Force Major General John Simmonds.
"As is customary, it depends on when the team comes back and when the management has some time to consult the other team members and coaches, because coaches sometimes are involved in the preparation of it. So traditionally, it usually takes about two to three weeks before returning to Jamaica and having it ready for the executive," Aris offered yesterday.
"Once it goes to the executive, the executive will look at it and take a decision, and if it is necessary for it to go to the (disciplinary) panel, it will then go," he added.
Pressed to disclose the possible sanctions that the panel could impose on the athletes, Aris replied: "They (disciplinary panel) are being guided by the rules of the IAAF and the JAAA's constitution. That's their guide."
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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