BIRMINGHAM, England — Despite being gutted by an administrative mix-up that has resulted in the country not being able to field a men’s relay team at the Commonwealth Games, coach Wendy Lee is grateful for the number of swimmers in Birmingham and said that the team is looking to put the issue behind them as competition gets underway today at Sandwell Aquatics Centre.

According to Jamaica Observer information, a technicality around the entry system resulted in the relay team being left off, leaving the country’s four male swimmers, Olympian Keanan Dols, Nathaniel Thomas, Kito Campbell and Sidrell Williams to focus only on their respective individual events and robbing the country’s swimmers of a rare opportunity at this level.

“The relays are a bit of a sensitive issue,” said Lee when asked about the issue surrounding the relay entry.

“We do have four amazing swimmers who are all here to swim their best stroke because we have Keanan, Nathaniel, Sidrell and between the three of them, they can just choose among themselves who is swimming the backstroke, the butterfly, and the freestyle. It doesn’t matter what order we put them in, they can all deliver at that level. And then we have a breaststroker in Kito. So ideally, we should have had the most amazing medley relay team we’ve ever had but there was an administrative challenge, and Jamaica was not entered in relays,” Lee updated.

The coach shared that the team’s management has been lobbying without success to get the team entered but that they are now focused on delivering a solid showing at the Games, as the programme looks to continue to develop following the retirement of swimming star Alia Atkinson, a world record holder, and three-time Commonwealth Games medal winner.

“Honestly, it’s so overwhelming that I’m not even allowing myself to process it, we just have to bury it as deep as we can and move on from it because we do have individual events and we came here with goals to be great. So regardless of the setbacks, we as a team have decided that we are going to do our very best to not allow anything to hold us back,” said Lee, who is on her first assignment as national coach at this level.

“Mistakes can be made and we’re not blaming anyone, it’s just unfortunate but we’re trying to move past it,” she said.

Billed as a transitional team and an important assignment in the development of Jamaica’s next generation of national swimming representatives, Lee believes the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will provide a platform for the island’s upcoming talent.

“We have a mixed group of athletes, those who have lots of experience at competitions at this level. So we have Keanan [Dols], Sidrill [Williams] and Kito [Campbell] who are coming from the World Championships, so they know what it is like to compete with the best of the best in the world and then we have Kelsie [Leigh Campbell], Nathaniel [Thomas], Zaneta [Alvaranga] and Mackenzie [Headley], who are coming from age-group swimming and junior-level swimming and this is their first outing on the world stage with senior swimmers. So, you know, we’re coming in with different experiences,” said Lee.

Lee, who says she is targeting advancements from the heats and national and personal records from her team members, said the experience will provide valuable experience and motivation as they continue their development.

She also said the team is taking inspiration from Atkinson, who won two long-course World Championships medals and 10 in the short-course championship.

“Keanan is here and he has swum with Alia many times so in our team meeting, when he spoke to us and says ‘listen to me, this is what Alia does and this is how we’re going to approach competition which is just with a positive mind and a happy heart,’ when he was done talking about what his experiences had been like competing with Alia, no one else in the room had anything to say, he said it all so right now, that’s what we’re going for,” Lee said.

All of Jamaica’s swimmers will be in action today.

Dols will lead the way in men’s 100m backstroke heats. He will be joined by youngster Nathaniel Thomas, in the second heat of the event starting at 11:51 am (5:51 am Jamaica time)

Sidrell Williams in the men’s 50m butterfly at 11:31 am (5:31 am), Mackenzie Headley in the women’s 50m breaststroke at 11:41 am (5:41 am), Zaneta Alvaranga at 12:04 pm (6:04 am) and Kelsie Leigh Campbell at 12:13 pm (6:13 am) in the women’s 100m butterfly and Kito Campbell in the men’s 200m breaststroke at 12:20 pm (6:20 am) will also be in action today.

— Andre Lowe