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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Ungrateful Brandon Simpson</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Paul Reid
Thursday, December 21, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>If last week's Internet report is true, then former Munro College runner Brandon Simpson has sunk to a new low, and has shown himself to be a mercenary of no mean order.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The former national quarter-miler, who won several international medals while running in the black, green and gold of Jamaica, asked for and received his release last year.
Earlier this year, he turned up in the colours of the oil rich Gulf state Bahrain, and was second in the 400m at the recent Asian Games in Qatar. There is nothing wrong with that. Brandon was not be the first Jamaican to switch allegiance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many Africans - most of them chasing easy money - have switched to the Gulf state in the past few years, prompting the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) to enact laws to make it more difficult for athletes to switch allegiance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But what stuck in the craw of many Jamaican track fans was the low blow Simpson levelled at the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), in particular, and Jamaica in general.
Simpson who was born in Florida of Jamaican parents and who would have spent most of his 25 years in Jamaica, was quoted as saying he was "never comfortable" here or ever felt appreciated, as the JAAA did not do enough for him.<P class=StoryText align=justify>By contrast, he said he feels very appreciated in a place where he does not live, speak the language or maybe know anyone - including most of his teammates who would be of starkly different ethnic and religious backgrounds.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ahh, the power of the Yankee dollar, or, in this case, the oil dollar. No-one can deny Simpson or anyone the right to switch their allegiance to the highest bidder, but he has no right to disrespect the place of his parents' birth and the country that prepared him to be the world class athlete he has become.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As a Munro College and Ardenne High student, Simpson would have benefitted from the best high school track and field programme in the world, and his many years of competing at Boys' Champs would have prepared him for the cauldron that is world athletics.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Simpson's unfair criticism of Jamaica and our ability to provide for athletics that make millions on the European circuit is not just unwarranted but sounds malicious as well.
But for those of us who have followed his career since he started showing promise while competing in Class Three at Western Champs, his outburst was not surprising.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Simpson left Munro for Ardenne while the St Elizabeth school was set to dominate the relays for a long time to come. While at Ardenne he qualified for the finals of the Class One 200m and 400m, scheduled to be run hours apart.
To the shock of the packed stadium, Simpson jogged the 200m, 'saving himself' for the one-lap event, which he lost. Remember this is in an environment where every single point counts.<P class=StoryText align=justify>After leaving high school, he started college at George Mason University, and I recall him bragging once, while at the Penn Relays, that he would 'single-handedly' turn around the programme. He never stayed there long enough as he soon switched once again to finish college at Texas Christian University.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Do not be surprised if in a few years when he wears out his welcome at Bahrain, he does not come back crawling on hands and knees to the JAAA, or maybe he will switch allegiance to the country of his birth.<P class=StoryText align=justify>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Paul Reid
Thursday, December 21, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>If last week's Internet report is true, then former Munro College runner Brandon Simpson has sunk to a new low, and has shown himself to be a mercenary of no mean order.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The former national quarter-miler, who won several international medals while running in the black, green and gold of Jamaica, asked for and received his release last year.
Earlier this year, he turned up in the colours of the oil rich Gulf state Bahrain, and was second in the 400m at the recent Asian Games in Qatar. There is nothing wrong with that. Brandon was not be the first Jamaican to switch allegiance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Many Africans - most of them chasing easy money - have switched to the Gulf state in the past few years, prompting the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF) to enact laws to make it more difficult for athletes to switch allegiance.<P class=StoryText align=justify>But what stuck in the craw of many Jamaican track fans was the low blow Simpson levelled at the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA), in particular, and Jamaica in general.
Simpson who was born in Florida of Jamaican parents and who would have spent most of his 25 years in Jamaica, was quoted as saying he was "never comfortable" here or ever felt appreciated, as the JAAA did not do enough for him.<P class=StoryText align=justify>By contrast, he said he feels very appreciated in a place where he does not live, speak the language or maybe know anyone - including most of his teammates who would be of starkly different ethnic and religious backgrounds.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Ahh, the power of the Yankee dollar, or, in this case, the oil dollar. No-one can deny Simpson or anyone the right to switch their allegiance to the highest bidder, but he has no right to disrespect the place of his parents' birth and the country that prepared him to be the world class athlete he has become.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As a Munro College and Ardenne High student, Simpson would have benefitted from the best high school track and field programme in the world, and his many years of competing at Boys' Champs would have prepared him for the cauldron that is world athletics.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Simpson's unfair criticism of Jamaica and our ability to provide for athletics that make millions on the European circuit is not just unwarranted but sounds malicious as well.
But for those of us who have followed his career since he started showing promise while competing in Class Three at Western Champs, his outburst was not surprising.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Simpson left Munro for Ardenne while the St Elizabeth school was set to dominate the relays for a long time to come. While at Ardenne he qualified for the finals of the Class One 200m and 400m, scheduled to be run hours apart.
To the shock of the packed stadium, Simpson jogged the 200m, 'saving himself' for the one-lap event, which he lost. Remember this is in an environment where every single point counts.<P class=StoryText align=justify>After leaving high school, he started college at George Mason University, and I recall him bragging once, while at the Penn Relays, that he would 'single-handedly' turn around the programme. He never stayed there long enough as he soon switched once again to finish college at Texas Christian University.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Do not be surprised if in a few years when he wears out his welcome at Bahrain, he does not come back crawling on hands and knees to the JAAA, or maybe he will switch allegiance to the country of his birth.<P class=StoryText align=justify>
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