THE EDITOR, Sir: Nothing instills a greater sense of pride in this country like the exploits of our athletes. The feeling of mild depression we are now feeling is understandable.
If one compares the size of the population from which each country chooses its representatives, Jamaica has no equal in track events. This takes on added importance when one realises that nothing else is really going well for us.
So the realisation that a staggering array of our senior athletes are found to have taken banned substances has left us with virtually nothing to distract us from crime and a stagnant economy.
The country has, by and large, stood by our athletes and we have even found someone else from elsewhere to blame in the most recent case. I, too, have joined in the show of support. We have no idea what really happened but we are supporting them, I suspect, because we want to believe what they say.
BRANDJAMAICAAFFECTED
Mr (Mark) Thomas from JAMPRO states that the Jamaica brand has not been seriously affected. But I doubt that, Mr Thomas. All the leading track athletics nations are writing about us. The gist of what they are saying is “we knew it was too good to be true”.
Years ago, East German athletes who were producing some incredible times were found to be using banned substances. No one talks of their performances anymore, just the cheating. There is now a cloud of suspicion over every single Jamaican athlete.
The prime minister and other prominent persons have offered their support. There is now talk of testing schoolchildren. Ok! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Next year, I expect about 2,600 participants at the Boys and Girls’ Champs. These tests will have to be done more than once if the results are to mean anything. Who will provide the resources for these tests? We should not lose sight of the fact that the nutritional support for the overwhelming majority of the children is limited to the odd glass of Milo.
Since I am not likely to run for
political office anytime soon and nobody knows how to find me, I think I can afford to be honest occasionally. So let me ask a question: How in God’s good name did our most exposed and experienced athletes find themselves in this situation?
Now that we have given a show of public support, I think the prime minister needs to take these persons into a room, lock the door and have a serious talk with them. I would defend her if she punctuates this ‘talk’ with some serious ‘forty-shilling’ words. We have been badly damaged.
Glenn Tucker