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Published: Sunday | August 8, 2010
Franklyn
Melaine Walker ... shocked, embarrassed, very annoyed and extremely upset. - File
Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
Delano Franklyn, the attorney representing Olympic and world 400-metre hurdles champion Melaine Walker, tells The Sunday Gleaner that there is no truth to a report carried Friday night on local media that the athlete is in the early stages of pregnancy and, as a result of that condition, will be unable to participate in the World Championships scheduled for South Korea next year, and is not able to compete on the track this season.
In late June, Walker told media that she was taking the remainder of the 2010 season off to fully recover from injury to her Achilles tendons after being advised by doctors to get as much rest as possible to facilitate her recovery.
"The report was baseless, groundless, of absolutely no
merit, absolutely no truth whatsoever, and what amounts to the elevation of hearsay and rumour to what we would describe as the truth. It is completely unfounded," Franklyn said yesterday.
Walker, by virtue of her gold-medal performances in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where she set an Olympic record of 52.64 seconds, and at the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin in 2009, where she clocked a new championship record and national record of 52.42 seconds, would have been able to demand top dollar in appearance fees during this inaugural season of the IAAF Diamond League. Also, in late June, she signed a three-year deal with the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League, which effectively made her the face of the credit union movement in Jamaica.
Her attorney, who also heads the board of the Asafa Powell Foundation and has written books on the success of Jamaica's track and field, said the report has serious implications for the athlete who is the second-fastest female athlete of all time over the 400-metre hurdles.
"It is an attack on her credibility and character. It has put her entire athletic career in jeopardy because it has now put in question the validity of all her existing contracts, and has raised doubts in the minds of her sponsors and has put a cloud over her future," he said.
He said the athlete was "shocked, embarrassed, very annoyed and extremely upset".
Walker, Franklyn said, had taken time off specifically because of an Achilles tendon injury which flared up earlier this year. Her doctors had ordered that she get as much rest as possible, that she be supervised medically, and that she adhere to the medical care until she has reached a point when she can resume training.
"She left the island yesterday in continuation of her health care, and much to the contrary of the report, she is looking forward to participating as a healthy and fully fit athlete at the next World Championships, and looking forward to fulfilling all her contractual obligations and participating in actual races fully fit," Franklyn said.
Published: Sunday | August 8, 2010
Franklyn
Melaine Walker ... shocked, embarrassed, very annoyed and extremely upset. - File
Leighton Levy, Gleaner Writer
Delano Franklyn, the attorney representing Olympic and world 400-metre hurdles champion Melaine Walker, tells The Sunday Gleaner that there is no truth to a report carried Friday night on local media that the athlete is in the early stages of pregnancy and, as a result of that condition, will be unable to participate in the World Championships scheduled for South Korea next year, and is not able to compete on the track this season.
In late June, Walker told media that she was taking the remainder of the 2010 season off to fully recover from injury to her Achilles tendons after being advised by doctors to get as much rest as possible to facilitate her recovery.
"The report was baseless, groundless, of absolutely no
merit, absolutely no truth whatsoever, and what amounts to the elevation of hearsay and rumour to what we would describe as the truth. It is completely unfounded," Franklyn said yesterday.
Walker, by virtue of her gold-medal performances in the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where she set an Olympic record of 52.64 seconds, and at the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin in 2009, where she clocked a new championship record and national record of 52.42 seconds, would have been able to demand top dollar in appearance fees during this inaugural season of the IAAF Diamond League. Also, in late June, she signed a three-year deal with the Jamaica Co-operative Credit Union League, which effectively made her the face of the credit union movement in Jamaica.
Her attorney, who also heads the board of the Asafa Powell Foundation and has written books on the success of Jamaica's track and field, said the report has serious implications for the athlete who is the second-fastest female athlete of all time over the 400-metre hurdles.
"It is an attack on her credibility and character. It has put her entire athletic career in jeopardy because it has now put in question the validity of all her existing contracts, and has raised doubts in the minds of her sponsors and has put a cloud over her future," he said.
He said the athlete was "shocked, embarrassed, very annoyed and extremely upset".
Walker, Franklyn said, had taken time off specifically because of an Achilles tendon injury which flared up earlier this year. Her doctors had ordered that she get as much rest as possible, that she be supervised medically, and that she adhere to the medical care until she has reached a point when she can resume training.
"She left the island yesterday in continuation of her health care, and much to the contrary of the report, she is looking forward to participating as a healthy and fully fit athlete at the next World Championships, and looking forward to fulfilling all her contractual obligations and participating in actual races fully fit," Franklyn said.
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