Three local athletes up for Wild Card Olympic selection
Pompey qualifies
By Michael DaSilva
Stabroek News
March 25, 2004
The names of three local athletes have been submitted for possible Wild Card selection for this year's Olympic Games slated for Athens, Greece, starting August 13.
According to Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) Chef-de-Mission Garfield Wiltshire, Matthew Khan (Table Tennis), Julian McWatt (weightlifting) and Paul Lewis (Boxing) are the names submitted by the GOA to the Athens Games' Organising Committee for possible Wild Card selection.
Wiltshire explained that a `Wild Card' is given to those countries and events where the committee sees persons have no way of qualifying. The committee looks at the number of Wild Card entries and the athletes' respective rankings before deciding who will qualify for the Wild Card entry. Wiltshire said that for the 2004 Athens Olympics, the Wild Card committee will meet in May or June.
Meanwhile, Wiltshire said Guyana's 2002 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Aliann Pompey has recorded the qualifying time for the women's 400-metre as set out by the International Amateur Athletic Association (IAAF). This makes her eligible for the Olympics. Pompey registered 51.48 seconds at a Grand Prix Meet in Yugoslavia last year August, to better the 51.50 seconds stipulated by the IAAF for this yearÆs Olympics.
President of the Amateur Athletics Association of Guyana (AAA) Claude Blackmoore explained that the IAAF, which coordinates the track and field aspect of the Summer Olympics, has for some years now instituted an `A' standard (51.50) as well as a `B' standard (52.30). The AAA head said both standards were adjusted in January this year, making it more difficult for athletes to qualify.
However, he said, another United States-based Guyanese athlete, Marian Burnett is close to qualifying for the women's 800-metre event. Burnett recorded two minutes .02 seconds at an IAAF-recognised meet just prior to last year's World Championships. The new qualifying standard for the women's 800m is two minutes.
According to Blackmoore, there are a few other IAAF-recognised meets where Burnett could possibly make the qualifying standard, before the July 24 closing date for entries.
Wiltshire pointed out that the closing date for names of prospective athletes must be submitted to the 2004 Olympic Organising Committee by April 28, but athletes have until July 24 to make the qualifying standard. Names of prospective athletes must be submitted by the deadline, whether they qualify or not. If the athletes make the qualifying standard after April 28, but before July 24, their national Olympic associations would have to make arrangements to acquire visas as well as accreditations for the athletes.
Blackmoore explained that the AAA does not send overseas-based athletes with `B' standards to any Olympics. "Instead, if one of our locally-based athletes makes the `B' standard, we give that athlete a chance to get valuable experience and exposure," he said.
"Home-based athletes will have several opportunities at making the `B' standard, since there are several regional meets as well as South American meets," Blackmoore said. "The Grenadian Whitsuntide Games is now recognised by the IAAF and the Barbados Classic Track Meet is another meet where local athletes can attempt to make the qualifying standard. And there are a few other meets where our home-based athletes can attempt to make the `B' standard."
With regard to swimmers making the qualifying standard, Wiltshire explained that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has stipulated that once a person participates in the FINA World Championships, and does not qualify, then the country the swimmer represented is automatically allowed to send one male and one female to the Olympics.
Guyana was represented at last year's World Swimming Championships in Spain by Onan Thom and Asanti Mickle. Neither of the two made the qualifying standard. "[However] they [Thom and Mickle] can, if their names are submitted by Guyana Amateur Swimming Association, be allowed into the Olympics," Wiltshire explained.