BUDAPEST, Hungary – Jamaican sprinter Tyquendo Tracey could be facing a lawsuit over allegations he made about the composition of Jamaica’s relay teams at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

In a video posted on social media this week after he was left out of the relay pool, Tracey accused Maurice Wilson, the technical leader of the team, of favouritism in the selection process.

In a press conference held at the Jamaican team hotel in Budapest on Friday, Wilson and Dennis Gordon, the media liaison officer, told journalists they intended to “seek legal redress” to protect their reputations that they think were tarnished by the allegations.

“I can’t allow this to pass, it will be difficult for me not to seek legal redress,” Wilson said, adding that his relatives have been verbally attacked on social media over the issue.

Wilson said the accusations made by Tracey, a two time national champion, were “libelous and defamatory and I have to seek redress to protect my reputation.”

Tracey, who was fifth in the men’s 100m final at the national championships, argued that he was more deserving of a place on the relay team than Kadrian Goldson, an athlete coached by Wilson.

Gordon, who is a businessman and will be contesting the next parliamentary elections, took offense at the suggestion that the coaching and management team did not select members for relays on merit but rather used nepotism.

“I am under scrutiny in my other life already and I cannot afford to have anything defamatory said about me,” Gordon said.

-Paul A Reid