For the second?time in as many editions, Shakera Reece has not made the Barbados team to the Summer Olympic Games and her camp wants to know what message is being sent to athletes by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) of Barbados.
But the AAA has countered, saying the allegations have come “after the fact” because Reece did not meet the qualifying standard within the stipulated period.
Mike Gaskin, Reece’s personal coach, told SUNSPORT after the 23-year-old found out she hadn’t made the cut, she was depressed and threatened to quit. They have been talking to her and hope to change her mind.
Six athletes, four in track and field, have been chosen for the London 2012 team.
“We are not a Jamaica or a United States that have 1 000 athletes to choose from. We have but a few and therefore to shut out Shakera is to send a message to athletes that is devastating for the most part,” Gaskin said.
He pointed out that Reece rededicated to her Olympic dream after being one of two athletes with “B” times for the Beijing Olympic Games, but lost the head-to-head battle with Jade Bailey. She set a new national record of 11.26 seconds and won a Pan Am bronze medal in October last year, within the Olympic qualifying period from May 11, 2011 to July 8, 2012 stipulated by the world body, the IAAF.
“Even if the AAA decided they are going to have a stipulation that athletes prove their worthiness, Shakera has competed most of the year and is off the qualifying mark, yes, but with what competition?”
“The AAA did not send Shakera to any major meets in an Olympic year. In fact, the AAA sent a 24-man team to Trinidad to compete at a junior meet, at Trinidad Junior Nationals, knowing that they could not compete in the final, but we have senior athletes at home, who in an Olympic year, did not get to go to any meets.”
He said Reece was in shape, running a personal best 23.58 in the 200 at Nationals.
However, the AAA mandates that an athlete repeat the time within its own qualifying period from January 1 to June 24, and according to AAA president Esther Maynard, this has been in place for more than eight years.
“As far as the Athletic Association is concerned, an athlete must be in competitive shape at the time of competition. If you do a performance in the year prior to competition and you don’t get back anywhere near there, can you consider yourself to be in competitive shape?”
“Furthermore, the second thing, the IAAF – and I have this in writing – does not mandate any country to stick to the qualifying period that they have set, provided they don’t go before or go after.”
Maynard said there were no objections when the standards and the qualifying period were announced and they have not taken any athletes who did not meet the standard.
Gaskin also charged they had submitted a budget of “just over $18 000” but there was no funding for Reece in the Barbados Olympic Association’s (BOA) programme. Reece spent several months training in Texas, ran in two meets there and also ran in Trinidad and Tobago and Canada.
On the issue of funding, both Maynard and treasurer Trevor Welch said the AAA provided funding for Reece to train and compete overseas and it did not have to come from the BOA.
Welch said the budget was closer to $20 000 and all of the funds requested were disbursed in three tranches – January, March and again in May. He said provisions were also made to send additional funds if they had been requested, but this wasn’t done.
“This is an athlete that has struggled. This is an athlete that has decided to put her career on hold so that she can follow her dream, then to have those hopes shattered because people are petty. The BOA is funding it. It is not like it is coming out of the AAA’s pocket,” an angry Gaskin said.
“Why is it that officials can boast that they have gone to every Olympics in the last 20 years, but athletes have to struggle? Why is it that officials go and we don’t benefit from their going, but athletes who win medals are shut out and denied the opportunity to fulfill their dreams?”
But Maynard maintained the rules had been set and they couldn’t make one set of rules for one athlete and another set for someone else.
