JOA, JAAA at loggerheads over number of athletes to Commonwealth Games
THE announcement of the Jamaican track and field contingent to the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham, United Kingdom, next month is being held up due to yet another stand-off between the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), the Jamaica Observer has learnt.
The newest stand-off between the island’s two most powerful sporting bodies is the latest in a series going back a few years, and reports are that the JOA is asking the JAAA to cut the squad to the Commonwealth Games from just over 70 to just under 50.
Meanwhile, efforts to contact officials from either association have not yielded success.
On Friday the JAAA released a team of just over 60 athletes for the World Athletics Championships that will compete from July 15-24 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
The World Championships team includes 12 athletes who were eligible to compete because of their world rankings, despite their failure to make the qualifying standards.
Sources close to the JAAA have told the Observer that as many as 40 of the athletes who have been named for the World Championships have indicated they would also travel to Birmingham for the Commonwealth Games.
Among those who had indicated they would be in the United Kingdom are Yohan Blake and Oblique Seville; national double sprint champion Shericka Jackson, who could attempt the double, while Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is expected to run only the 100m and Elaine Thompson-Herah the 200m.
— Paul Reid