‘Turbulent Carifta’

DESCRIBING THE 50th Carifta Games as the most challenging of those he has participated in, Jamaica coach Dave Anderson praised his team’s resilience, while calling for improvements in the face of the obstacles experienced.

The team returned to the island yesterday after their 78-medal haul in the Bahamas, which included 40 gold, 22 silver and 16 bronze, maintaining their dominance over regional athletics.

But it wasn’t without difficulty and controversy.

The Jamaicans had issues with officiating as well as injuries.

Anderson said that despite the challenges, he was pleased with how well the team stuck together to display their usual brilliance on the track.

“It was frustrating, exciting and in the long run Jamaica prevailed. It was a turbulent Carifta. I think it was one of the most challenging out of all the five that I have attended,” Anderson told The Gleaner.

“But based on our experience we were able to keep the athletes together and we pulled through in the end.”

What started with the unfortunate injury to team captain, Bouwahjgie Nkrumie, continued with concerns surrounding officiating, highlighted by the attempted rerun of the under-20 boys 4x100-metre final which Jamaica won.

The rerun was attempted after a protest lodged by Barbados, citing that the Bahamian team, who finished second in 39.78, had an unfair advantage because their opening-leg runner, Zachary Evans, who was left in the blocks was fresher than other athletes who had run more than half of the first leg before the race was recalled and restarted.

Jamaica’s technical leader, David Riley, made the decision not to do the rerun, saying the Jury of Appeal did not declare the results null and void ahead of the rerun. The other countries in the race followed suit, withdrawing from the rerun and the results stood.

Anderson said despite the frustrations experienced, they had to keep the athletes calm and focused.

“At some point in time, we were wondering if it was deliberate but when we looked at what was happening throughout the three days, we realised it was more incompetence and inconsistency. We had to just keep our athletes sane, keep them relaxed, keep them focused,” Anderson said.

“At times you could see the frustration in them. They would be warming up for events and if the events were no longer on, they would not be notified. Events would be called before time. They are young and fragile, so we had to pull on our experience, knowing that we would have been through this type of situation coming from Champs with big teams.”

Team manager Richard Thompson expressed the need for change to improve the meet going forward.

“If we are going to take Carifta seriously in the Caribbean, then we will have to look at the overall staging of the event, the overall planning and execution. And outside of the athletes on the track and in the field, the most critical part of the games would be the officiating,” Thompson said.

Anderson agreed with the calls for changes regarding the organisation of the meet but was pleased with the way the team rallied around each other, highlighted by a strong final-day performance on Monday

“I think the final day was the best of the three days for us. Despite all the challenges, we were able to put together good performances on the last day. We were dominant and then the momentum continued,” said Anderson.

daniel.wheeler@gleanerjm.com