Thomas-Dodd speaks out after missing out on shot put final

For the second straight Olympic Games, World Championships shot put silver medallist Danniel Thomas-Dodd was narrowly edged out of the final.

But her disappointment of again missing out on a final that she felt capable of making was overshadowed by her frustrations by administrators in not being able to have a coach accredited, which she said contributed to insufficient preparation.

Thomas-Dodd’s best throw of 18.12 metres was not enough to secure a top 12 finish as Raven Saunders of the United States landed a big enough throw to snatch the last final spot from her. Thomas-Dodd said that she knew she was capable of a big throw but slammed the insufficient preparation she had, compounded by not having her coach present with her, the second time this has happened to her at an Olympic Games.

“It’s something that is within my capabilities. Unfortunately it didn’t come together on the day. It is the second time now that I have finished in the 13th spot. It is the second Olympics that I have requested to have my coach with me and was denied. I have been sitting in the village for two and half weeks essentially practising on my own because I was denied the privilege of having my coach get an accreditation so at least he could have access to the training facilities,” Thomas-Dodd said. “We are not talking about someone that is just your coach. He is my moral support, he is my massage therapist. The things I needed to do on competition day I couldn’t because all those things required my coach to be there.”

The frustrations were evident for Thomas-Dodd who has competed over a decade for Jamaica, believing that the playing field continues to favour the sprints and not the field events, voicing her criticisms at both the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) and the Jamaica Olympic Association.

“For everything that I have done so far for Jamaica and for throws in Jamaica, you would think that I would get the respect I deserve in a way that gives me that privilege,” Thomas-Dodd. “Give me what all my competitors have. It’s tough going into a competition when mentally you wish things were different. I don’t think it was anything physically I was not able to do. It’s just frustrating having to deal with an organisation that does not have any respect for the field events in Jamaica.”

Thomas-Dodd is not the first athlete to voice frustration at not having their coach present with them. Commonwealth Games high jump champion Lamara Distin expressed disappointment in not having her coach accredited for her Olympic debut as she also failed to make the final of her event.

The JAAA came under scrutiny in the build up to the Games, most notably after hammer thrower Nayoka Clunis’s omission from the team and Kemba Nelson’s late call up to the relay squad despite being told that she was not needed earlier.

Jamaica’s medal tally is six, which includes Jamaica’s first gold medal in the men’s discus. In a Games where the field events have taken the spotlight, the irony of the situation is not lost on Thomas-Dodd.

“It is ironic that the only gold medal that we have gotten so far has not come from the track it has come from one of the throws and we are the most marginalised groups in Jamaica and it needs to stop. It’s very frustrating and very heartbreaking.,” Thomas-Dodd said. “We are the most looked down event in Jamaica. And they keep forgetting it is not just track, it is track and field. You need to invest more. You are talking about 365 days of training and just like that. I was robbed of that opportunity to be in that final and I know it was something that I was more than capable of doing.”