Racers accepts Cameron’s resignation
Glen Mills, president of Racers Track Club, has accepted the resignation of former 400m coach Bertland Cameron, who handed in his letter of resignation yesterday.
“We have received the letter and, yes, we will accept it,” Mills told the Jamaica Observer yesterday, two days after returning to the island from the Olympic Games in London, as well as preparing his stable of athletes for several international meets afterwards.
Mills pointed out that while he was the president, the club was run by a board and they would make the final decision and would respond in a timely manner.
A release sent to the Observer quoted Cameron, the only Jamaican man to win an IAAF World Championship 400m gold at the inaugural staging in 1983 in Helsinki, Finland, as saying: “It’s time to begin a new chapter of my life,” in response to the queries as to whether he is leaving Racers Track Club (RTC). He hoped this announcement would put to rest the rumours regarding his departure from the club which has been his “home” for the past two years.
Cameron was part of the Jamaican coaching staff at the Olympics and was responsible for the men’s 400m, as well as the men’s 4x400m relay team.
Mills said he had not seen the release, but heard “it was graceful”. “I heard he was leaving to form his own thing.”
Asked whether any of the 400m runners at the club, including national record holder Jermaine Gonzales, would be leaving to join Cameron, Mills said: “It is still early stages so we have no idea what is going on.”
Cameron was thrust into the limelight during the Olympics when Gonzales, who had failed to get past the first round of the men’s 400m, later pulled up in the preliminaries of the men’s 4x400m relays and failed to finish, possibly costing Jamaica a place in the final.
Gonzales had earlier told journalists he had missed training time because of a leg injury and said he would not have selected himself for the relays as other runners in the team were running better than he was at the time.
Upon his return to the island, however, Cameron insisted the athlete was not injured and was able to run.
