Travel glitches as Jamaican athletes stream into Oregon
EUGENE, Oregon — The full complement of Jamaica’s athletes to the 18th World Athletics Championships were expected to be in Eugene, Oregon, by late Monday night with the final set of athletes expected to arrive today.
Lincoln Eatmon, manager of the team, told the Jamaica Observer that the final set of athletes were expected into the village Monday night, but would not say how many athletes were still to arrive.
Technical Leader Maurice Wilson said on Sunday that while there have been some “logistical issues”, they were working well with the athletes and their teams and having a high school facility to use had been a plus.
The World Championships, the first one ever in the USA and second in this part of the world, will start on Friday and will run through to Sunday July 24.
Jamaican athletes and officials had started leaving for the north-western US from Friday, but only a small group made it to Eugene on Friday night as several flights were cancelled in the connection process.
Those who were left behind included Wilson and Coach Julian Robinson, who is responsible for the throwers.
Meanwhile Eatmon, who also shared that Dennis Gordon had been appointed the team’s media liaison officer, downplayed complaints by several athletes on social media about the unsuitability of the athletes accommodation on the various halls of the University of Oregon where they are being housed.
The Jamaicans had been housed at a hotel prior to being allowed to move in to the athletes’ village on Sunday, two days earlier than the official opening of the housing, but several of the Jamaicans had complained about having three persons share a room, some with bunk beds. They also lamented a reported lack of air conditioning in the rooms.
Eatmon said: “These are standard dorm rooms on a university campus, we were in a hotel before where there was air conditioning, this is where all the other teams will be staying as far as we know.”
He pointed out that the weather in Eugene was milder than in Jamaica and got cooler at times, going on to say “the camp has been a success so far”.
” There are the usual glitches here and there when you are dealing with large groups, people have to adjust,” he said, adding “we will not hear anymore of these complaining” as soon as the competition got going.
Wilson said on Sunday that up to about 70 per cent of the team members had arrived in Eugene and said, “we are trying to work through some logistics, we started out in a slightly difficult position as my flights were also cancelled on Friday and I got in a day later than planned”.
He said they had their first real session with the athletes present on Sunday morning at the track at Halverson Field on the campus of Churchill High School, about 20 minutes from Hayward Field where the championships will be held.
The Jamaicans are expected to move to Lane Junior College for training today as the official training facility opens up its doors to all the teams taking part in the 10-day championships.
Up to Monday, Wilson said he thought getting the high school field for the Jamaicans was a positive move. “The facilities are great, we are by ourselves which is unusual, a lot of teams are tying to get good facilities and so we are grateful and we expect things to get better”.
The men sprinters Yohan Blake, Oblique Seville and Ackeem Blake were at the training session on Monday morning, as well as Olympic 110m hurdles champion Hansle Parchment and Orlando Bennett, discus throwers Traves Smikle and Fedrick Dacres, Navasky Anderson, Natoya Goule and Adelle Tracey.
