Wilson exploring legal options following criticism by Tracey
Published:Saturday | August 26, 2023 | 12:09 AMDaniel Wheeler/Staff Reporter
BUDAPEST, Hungary:
Technical leader for the Jamaica World Championships team, Maurice Wilson, said that legal action could be explored against two-time national 100 metres champion Tyquendo Tracey.
In a social media post on Thursday, Tracey accused the team’s technical leader of having a ‘personal vendetta’ against him after he said he was taken out of the men’s 4x100m relay pool at the championships and replaced by Kadrian Goldson.
Wilson, in a press conference yesterday, responded to the allegations made by Tracey regarding his exclusion from the pool that was submitted for the men’s 4x100m relay event and the inclusion of Goldson from G.C. Foster College. Wilson is the principal of G.C. Foster.
“This is a prime example ... an athlete is not supposed to be on the team, and he is here because his coach is the head coach of the team. If you are going to say this person ran XYZ time, that is not a valid point because you have Kishane Thompson, Julian Forte and Yohan Blake who have run faster than him, but unfortunately, they didn’t make the team,” Tracey said on Thursday.
Wilson responded to the question of Goldson’s inclusion which he said was done before the August 7 deadline noting differences in performances between the two competitors since the national championships.
NEEDED ADDITIONAL MANPOWER
“Tracey went to Memphis and ran 20.94 in the 200m and 10.20 (over 100m). We felt that we needed to add additional manpower at the time before the submission of entries was closed. Goldson during that period of time became the World University champion, ran 10.04 in the 100m heats and then in two hours 10.04 again. I think at that time it would have been a decent addition,” Wilson said.
“If a coach has those statistics, tell me what do you think the coach will do? Tyquendo is not entitled to run on the relay. The three persons who are included in the pool are one, two and three at the trials. The coaches have the liberty to decide who are the other three athletes.”
Tracey posted on social media the six members of the men’s 4x100m relay pool which did not include him saying “this is their way of saying they run this, and I should shut my mouth next time around. So you know right now things will only get more louder going forward”.
Wilson referenced Tracey’s alleged clashes in the past with MVP head coach Stephen Francis and said that it would be difficult not to explore recourse because of the alleged comments which he finds defamatory. “I will have to seek redress. The utterances were libellous and defamatory. My family is coming under attack on social media. I have to seek redress in relation to my reputation. Track and field is a part of what I do. There is no way that I can allow this to just be a passing fad. This is his modus operandi and it is very difficult for me not to seek some form of redress,” Wilson said.
The team of Ackeem Blake, Oblique Seville, Ryiem Forde and Rohan Watson, the top four men at the national championships, qualified for today’s 4x100m final, finishing second in their heat in 37.68 seconds. The United States won the heat in 37.67.