WHY WE WONT BE AT OUR BEST AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES

Athletes like Smith will need the work after coming off injury

Jamaica will send a strong netball team, a hockey team in the process of rebuilding and some of our best swimmers to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India starting October 4.
However, as the country defending all the sprint titles from 2006, Jamaica’s track and field team will be third rate. I am saying this not to disrespect the track and field team that will represent Jamaica, but given the talent at our disposal, talent that will NOT be attending the Games, it is safe to assume that the team named last week, is by no means our best team.
And this is not to blame the athletes (those not attending) or the administration but when one considers that Jamaica will be defending all the sprint titles – Asafa Powell in the 100 metres (men), Shelly Ann Brooks, 100 metres (women); Omar Brown, 200 metres (men), Sherone Simpson, 200 metres (women); Brigette Foster 100 metre hurdles (women); plus the men and women sprint relay titles – Jamaica’s team going into Delhi is a shadow of the powerhouse team that went sent to Melbourne four years ago.
The storyline for the netballers is intriguing. Can Jamaica avenge its recent embarrassing losses to Australia and New Zealand and totally dominate England who came into Jamaica and tied their two-game series with the home girls?

Oshane Bailey will get his chance to shine in Delhi

But while netball has been Jamaica’s best team sport, track has become the pulse of the nation. Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Shelly Ann Fraser, Sherone Simpson, Veronica Campbell Brown, Jermaine Gonzales, are not only some of the best athletes in the Commonwealth, they are among the best in the world.
As such emerging athletes like Oshane Bailey, Lerone Clarke, Yanique Boothe, Shanna Thomas and others will get a chance to shine or be exposed. Is Jamaica’s talent as deep as we really believe it to be?
But why are we sending this weakened team?
From where I sit, it comes down to bad-timing and bad location. The Commonwealth Games starts the first week of October. That is when most athletes, save for the Australians, begin their preparations for the next season. And next season is a championship season. The World Championships will be on in South Korea. It is a stage where athletes create or build upon their reputations and as such it will take precedence over performing meets like the Commonwealth Games.
But before we even get there, this year’s Games come at the end of a long track season and we all know that tired or under-prepared athletes are most likely to get hurt. When they would organisers stage these Games at this time? I think too much thought went into the location and not the athletes and as India is now discovering, without the athletes the Games are nothing – at least not for the fans of track and field who want to see the best athletes take the track in meets like these.
The Indian organizers knew this and which is why they were willing to shell out millions to lure Usain Bolt to participate. The only trouble is Bolt is busy building his legacy as the greatest sprinter of all time and unfortunately, the timing of the Commonwealth Games makes it one that Bolt will have to overlook; as are our other stars.
But this situation is not unique to Jamaica. Right across the Commonwealth athletes have been and are pulling out of the Commonwealth Games and for similar reasons. Those who are not recovering from injury are trying not to become injured.
Of course, Maurice Smith, who participates in the decathlon will be there representing Jamaica as well as Dorian Scott and Trisha Smith, athletes who are returning from injury and who need the competition as they prepare for next year’s Worlds.
Others, athletes who are less likely to represent Jamaica next year, will get their chance to start building their reputations hoping that their turn to shine will come in the next two or three years.
We wish them the best as they go forth representing the deepening pool of athletes that Jamaica has been producing.