By Elton Tucker, Assistant Sport Editor
Sprint queen Merlene Ottey (right), crosses the finishing line in fourth at the National Senior and Junior Athletics Championship at the National Stadium in July, behind national champion Peta-Gaye Dowdie (left and below) who finished first.
SYDNEY, Australia:
A TOP level meeting of officials of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and the track and field management here in Sydney was in progress up to late last night (Monday night Jamaica time, Tuesday midday in Sydney), in an effort to resolve the issues which led to a demonstration by over 20 members of the track and field contingent on Sunday at the athletes' village at the 27th Olympic Games.
Chef de Mission Don Anderson, who slipped out of the meeting for a short while to speak to The Gleaner, said there were "still issues to be sorted out" and the members of the management team were attempting to resolve them.
Among those in the meeting which had been in progress for over 60 minutes were JOA president Mike Fennell, Lloyd Gooden, the deputy Chef de Mission, assistant manager Marie Tavares, track and field manager Winston Ulett, his assistant Lincoln Eatmon, members of the medical team, Doctors Winston Dawes and Aggrey Irons and physiotherapist Marcia Swyer-Forbes.
It is not expected that the management will give in to the demands of the athletes who have said they will boycott the relays if national 100 metres champion Peta-Gaye Dowdie is not given a berth in the event which starts on Friday at the massive 115,000-seat Olympic Stadium in Sydney.
One of the spokespersons for the athletes, national 400 metres champion Gregory Haughton, was clear in his mind that the decision to allow Merlene Ottey, the fourth place finisher at the trials, to run instead of champion Peta-Gaye Dowdie was a step in the wrong di-rection. He felt the top three at the trials should be the ones to run in the 100 metres at the Games.
"It is bad. It is not good for any of us. We think the national champion should run. It is not my opinion only. This is the consensus of most of the athletes. We believe that once the rule is set, it should not be broken for anybody. Peta-Gaye is just 23 years old. She needs this opportunity, financially and otherwise. She is the future, " Haughton said.
A source told The Gleaner yesterday, however, that the officials here made the right decision. "Dowdie is definitely injured and would not have been able to perform up to her best in the event," the source said.
Dowdie herself denied that claim yesterday during the demonstration when she said she would not have been here if she had an injury.
Some athletes trained early yesterday while the coaches went on a tour of the Stadium in preparation for the start of the track and field competition. According to reports from the camp, the members of the men's 4x400 metres squad are still holding strongly to their position that they will withdraw from the relay if Dowdie is not allowed to run but training will go on as usual.
