Dear Editor,

Old time people used to say, “Small axe chop dung big tree”. As a fan of track and field and the star power of our island’s great athletes, there could not be a more suitable proverb to describe the experience faced by Calabar’s Michael O’Hara, who blazed the track at the Penn Relays in the US and before that Boys’ Champs in Jamaica.

His victory over the big-time Penn Relays organisers, who sought to ban him because of speculation, is testament to the power of facts over fiction.

I am always amazed at how quick so many of us are to jump to rumours over facts. O’Hara’s athletic status was riddled with wild speculation, only to later see his lawyers successfully argue his amateur status in the United States.

My question now is, what of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association and the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association? I cannot help but wonder why O’Hara was left on his own by them. It really wreaks of poor leadership and a serious disconnect from reality. Had O’Hara not had the backing of a corporate entity, what would have happened to him?

I pray that our sports leaders will understand that a modern approach is necessary in the sporting world. They must also understand that we should defend our athletes at all times and not seek to destroy them over rumour and wild speculation.

Janice Wilson-Scott

Kingston 9

janicewilsonscott@

hotmail.com