Neither hurdler Ryan Brathwaite nor swimmer Bradley Ally, potentially Barbados’ top medal prospects for the 2011 Pan American Games, will be competing at the October 23 to 30 event in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) president Steve Stoute told SUNSPORT both had indicated they wouldn’t be able to attend the meet which is being funded to the tune of $500 000.
Ally recently returned home to train, while Brathwaite, the former World champion in the men’s 110 metre hurdles, has had some poor outings this season.
“Bradley Ally has had some setbacks in training. He had transferred to the United States and to France, but that has not worked out as well as he had hoped,” the president said.
Below par
“His results at the World Championships were below his expectation and he is currently of the view that he isn’t mentally or physically prepared to participate in the Pan Am Games.
“Ryan Brathwaite [is] also indicating after his performance in Korea he isn’t mentally or physically prepared.
He would also like to withdraw as he was on the team initially.”
In his frank way Stoute said: “Medal prospects at this point are not looking that good.”
At the 14th FINA World Championships in Shanghai, China, two months ago, Ally’s best performance was 17th overall in the men’s 200 metres individual medley (IM), just missing the cut for the semi-finals.
In the 100 metres butterfly, the 24-year-old was 40th out of 65 swimmers and 36th out of 50 in the 100 metres backstroke.
He won two gold medals in the 200IM and 400IM, both in record time, at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, but did not compete at the Commonwealth Games after switching his training base to Marseille, France.
He has since returned to Barbados.
After winning gold at CAC in 2010, Brathwaite’s poor run of form for 2011 continued at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea where the 23-year-old was seventh in the heats of the men’s 110-metre hurdles.
London prep
SUNSPORT has been reliably informed that Brathwaite will be starting his preparation for the London 2012 Olympic Games and since he is not competition fit, has decided not to take on a new meet.
While the full Barbados team is still to be ratified, BOA’s Olympic operations manager Glyne Clarke said approximately 80 athletes and officials have been short-listed to attend. He didn’t give names but indicated that just over 50 athletes had been picked.
Among them are 32 athletes for the men’s and women’s hockey teams; one competitor each for squash, men’s triathlon and taekwondo; two each in tennis, boxing and badminton and six each in swimming and track and field.
Darian King and Haydn Lewis are the two athletes selected in tennis.
For the first time in many years, there is no representative in cycling while the equestrian competitor withdrew.
