Five athletes yet to join Jamaican delegation in Oregon as Hansle Parchment and Stephenie-Ann McPherson named team leaders
All but five of Jamaica’s athletes are in camp 48 hours ahead of the start of the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. One of those athletes will not be joining the team, Sportsmax.TV has learnt.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympic 110m hurdles champion Hansle Parchment and Tokyo Olympics 400m finalist Stephenie-Ann McPherson have been named team captains as the athletes look forward to getting into action on Friday.
Of the 64-member team selected by the Jamaica Administrative Athletics Association to represent the country at the Championships set to run from July 15-24, quarter-miler Gregory Prince, 100m sprinter Jelani Walker, discus thrower Chad Wright as well as long jumper Chanice Porter and 800m runner Chris-Ann Gordon-Powell have not yet arrived in the athletes’ village.
Media liaison Dennis Gordon revealed that Prince received his US visa on Tuesday and is expected to arrive in Oregon by either late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
Walker’s situation is more concerning as the athlete has tested positive for Covid-19 and has been advised to remain away from the camp until he is advised by the medical team.
Chad Wright, Gordon explained, will not be joining the team because of “visa issues”.
As it relates to Porter and Gordon-Powell, the team’s technical leader, Maurice Wilson, at the request of their agent Claude Bryan, has granted permission both to join the camp on July 15.
Otherwise, Gordon said, all the other athletes are in camp and are said to be in high spirits ahead of the start of the competition, welcome news against the background of some challenges the delegation faced over the past few days.
Flight cancellations delayed the arrival of some athletes to the pre-camp late last week before the athletes moved into the village on July 10.
There were also issues with delays in accrediting some athletes because of matters relating to their Covid-19 status, Gordon confirmed.
He explained that some of the athletes faced issues with uploading forms issued electronically by World Athletics, that required information on athletes’ vaccination status. This was confirmed by some coaches who spoke with Sportsmax.TV earlier this week.
However, that matter has now been resolved and all athletes have now been accredited, Gordon said.
Another relatively minor issue that athletes faced was with the rooms to which they were assigned. Gordon explained that a list was created assigning athletes to specific rooms.
However, some of the athletes had preferences about whom they wanted to room with and as such when some athletes reported to the rooms to which they were assigned, they found there was another athlete already occupying what should have been their space.
That situation has also now been resolved, Gordon assured.
Several athletes who spoke with Sportsmax.TV confirmed that they are now settled.
“For the most part, people seem to be okay. I haven’t heard any complaints really,” one athlete, who wanted to remain unidentified said.
“The rooms are dorms, and that was expected seeing that we are on a campus.”
Jamaica’s men 400m runners will be among the first to get into action on Friday morning in the 4x400m heats after which the preliminary round of the men’s 100m will get underway.
The heats of the men’s 100m will get underway in the afternoon session on Friday with the mixed relays finals scheduled to close out the day.
Leighton Levy
Leighton Levy is a journalist with 28 years’ experience covering crime, entertainment, and sports. He joined the staff at SportsMax.TV as a content editor two years ago and is enjoying the experience of developing sports content and new ideas. At SportsMax.tv he is pursuing his true passion - sports.
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