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Simply brilliant! - Blake hails athletes, explains women’s 4x400m relay controversy

Published:Monday | October 7, 2019 | 12:12 AMAndrÈ Lowe/Sports Editor
Tiffany James (right) hands the baton to Jamaica teammate Stephenie-Ann McPherson in the transition between the second and third legs of the 4x400m relay final at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, yesterday.
Tiffany James (right) hands the baton to Jamaica teammate Stephenie-Ann McPherson in the transition between the second and third legs of the 4x400m relay final at the IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, yesterday.

DOHA, Qatar:

Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) president Dr Warren Blake explained the circumstances behind Jamaica’s dramatic women’s 4x400m relay bronze medal and hailed the team after its 12 medal performance at the just-concluded World Championships here.

Jamaica matched its second best ever medal return at the World Championships, closing yesterday’s final day at the Khalifa International Stadium with two bronze medals and a silver, to push their overall medal tally to 12 (three gold, five silver, four bronze), to finish in third position behind the United States on 29 (14-11-4) and Kenya on 11 (5-2-4). Despite winning less medals than Jamaica, the Kenyans are ranked above Jamaica because of a higher gold medal count.

Spread Important

“I think it’s excellent and what is very important is that the team itself is a very young team and the medals were spread right across the spectrum,” Blake said. “They were not narrowly concentrated in any one area, but we got just as many medals in the field events as we did on the track. It’s a very balanced team and it’s something to build on going forward.”

It was a massive turnaround from the disappointing four medal performance two years ago at the London World Championships and signalled the country’s arrival as a wide-ranging power in the athletics world.

Four of the country’s eight individual medals were won in the field, with Tajay Gayle winning gold in the men’s long jump, while Fedrick Dacres, Shanieka Ricketts and Danniel Thomas-Dodd won silver medals in the men’s discus, the women’s triple jump and the women’s shot put respectively.

Of note, at Jamaica’s most successful World Championships, the Berlin 2009 event where 13 medals were won, the Jamaicans did not win a single field event medal.

Jamaica’s other individual medals in Doha were delivered by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who won gold in the women’s 100m, while Shericka Jackson, Danielle Williams and Rushell Clayton won bronze medals in the women’s 400m, 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles events respectively.

The country also secured a gold medal in the women’s 4x100m, silver in the men’s 4x400m and the mixed 4x400m relays and bronze in the women’s 4x400m relays.

That women’s 4x400m relay bronze was at the centre of controversy yesterday, after the Jamaicans were originally disqualified, reinstated and then survived a counter-appeal, with all of that causing the team members to miss out on receiving their medals on the podium.

The team of Anastasia Le-Roy, Tiffany James, Stephenie-Ann McPherson, and Shericka Jackson had crossed the line in third place in 3:22.37 minutes, finishing behind the United States, 3:18.92 and Poland, 3:21.89, but were subsequently disqualified because McPherson was not in the correct order to receive the baton from James on the second exchange.

The Jamaican management team appealed the decision and the team was reinstated upon review, after it was confirmed that the athlete was acting on the instruction of the assigned official.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which had finished fourth and would have benefited from a Jamaican disqualification by being promoted into third place, however, appealed the reinstatement, but that was denied by the officials.

“When Tiffany James was coming around and she passed the 200m mark, she actually passed the 200m mark in fourth position and I noticed from in the stands that when the athletes were being led out and placed in their positions, she was placed in the second position and I said to my treasurer, we are going to have to wait, because I bet there was going to be a disqualification, but she went where the officials placed her,” Blake explained.

Under IAAF relay rules, receiving athletes on the third and fourth legs, are to be lined up, from inside going outwards, in the position where their incoming teammate is located at the 200m mark.

“When the protest went up against Team Jamaica, we knew exactly what had transpired and we went immediately to TIC (Technical Information Centre) and lodged a counter protest and when the video referee reviewed the tape, they had to reinstate us because they realised that the position that the athlete was in, was not by her own choosing. So they had to give us back our medal,” Blake further explained.

“Because of that mix up and the time it took, the girls actually went back to the hotel and missed their medal presentation,” said Blake, who had already collected the athletes’ medals.

Also yesterday, the team of Akeem Bloomfield, Nathon Allen, Terry Thomas and Demish Gaye ran 2:57.90 minutes for second place behind the United States, 2:56.69 with Belgium, 2:58.78, while Danielle Williams, 12.47 ran third in the 100m hurdles, which was won by American Nia Ali, 12.34 with Kendra Harrison, 12.46 taking the silver medal.

Jamaica’s medal tally matches the Beijing 2015 medal return and is only bettered by the 13 medals won at the 2009 championship in Berlin.

andre.lowe@gleanerjm.com

12 Medals (second best in Ja history)

3 Gold Medals (fifth best in Ja history)

4 Field Event Medals (best In Ja history)