PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — President of the country’s Olympic Committee, Brian Lewis, wants government to set the precedent for the corporate sector, in allowing athletes with jobs special leave to represent the country.

For last month’s Pan American Games in Toronto, four national athletes employed by the Ministry of Sports were afforded only no-pay leave, a situation Lewis said should not have occurred.

“I was very disquieted to be informed about this. I think the fact that they were employed by the Ministry of Sport raises some fundamental questions,” the Trinidad Guardian quoted Lewis as saying.

“Where is the moral authority now to expect that corporate T&T and other employers will consider representing your country as national service? I’m not saying it as a criticism, I’m saying it as an observation and it’s an issue that needs to be dealt with upfront.”

Lewis said the Sports Ministry, in addition to other employers, needed to provide the appropriate working conditions for the country’s elite athletes.

This, he said, would be pivotal if T&T were to be successful at global meets.

“We still have a lot of work to do and the TTOC (Olympic Committee) is really trying to deepen the whole athlete-centred approach,” he said.

“If we really want to achieve 10 or more Olympic medals by 2024, we need to ensure that our athletes have what they need.”