KINGSTON, Jamaica – Quarter-miler Edino Steele was expected to line up alongside Javon Francis, Rusheen McDonald, Peter Matthews, and Jonia McDonald for Jamaica’s 4x400m relay squad in Beijing, China, after being named to the 53-member squad this week.

However, Steele failed to report to the World Championship training camp in Tottori, Japan, which resulted in reports surfacing that officials were unable to contact him.

Steele reached out through his Facebook page last night, informing his fans that he is safe, but needs time for himself.

“I’m just going thru a ruff time in my life and I need a little space and time for my thoughts to gather,” Steele said in his post.

“I can’t go out there and give 199% on the track… as I always do for ‘team Jamaica’,” he continued.

The 400m runner said: “Times like these [I] wanna be around my family to help me through this ruff time.”

He expressed his appreciation to those who have been looking out for him, but reiterated that he just needed time and space.

Fellow quarter-miler Ricardo Chambers, after being left off the team to Beijing, has now been included and is expected to play a critical role on Jamaica’s 4x400m relay team.