Powell among athletes yet to join Jamaican Olympic squad

Birmingham (England), July 23: Days before the end of its pre-Olympics training camp here at the University of Birmingham, sprinter Asafa Powell, along with two reigning Olympic champions, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Melaine Walker, are yet to join the Jamaican team.

Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) President Mike Fennell had said arrangements would be made with athletes who were scheduled for meets during the camp, but while some like Michael Frater, Nesta Carter and Andrew Riley came in and out, others like Powell, Walker, Fraser-Pryce, Brigitte Foster-Hylton and Kaliese Spencer are yet to report, CMC reports.

Fraser-Pryce and Spencer ran in London over a week ago, Walker competed Friday in Monaco while Powell has not touched the track since the Jamaica Trials.

On Saturday, Kerron Stewart, Christine Day, Latoya Greaves and Rusheen McDonald joined the group in Birmingham.

When questioned Sunday about the athletes who were yet to arrive, team leader Ludlow Watts was evasive.

“I wouldn’t even want to call individual names,” Watts said, when pressed by journalists to name athletes who were yet to arrive.

“This camp has been a bit unique. In the past we have never had so many people compete in so many meets during camp.”

He added: “This has being a most unusual one because we have a number of people who have been in and out, and a number of people who have to do a few things differently.”

He conceded the situation was not ideal, noting it would have been good to have all athletes in camp at the same time.

However, he said all athletes were expected to be in camp by Monday.

Over the years, Jamaica’s governing body for track and field, the JAAA, has threatened sanctions on athletes who failed to turn up for mandatory camps.

But Watts stressed that there were extenuating factors this time around.

“It’s mandatory, but I am saying to you because of the unusual situations this year, there is a number of people who had to be in and out for various reasons,” he contended.

Pressed on what would happen if all the athletes did not arrive by Monday for the last two days of the camp, Watts said: “We would be rather surprised and we would cross that bridge (when we get there).”

Jamaica have picked a 50-member contingent for the Olympics which open in London Friday, with track and field accounting for all but three members of the large team.

–IANS/CMC

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