London-bound athletes hampered by visa processing delays
Several Jamaican athletes have not reached the pre-World Championships camp in Birmingham that started five days ago because of delay in the processing of the required UK visas.
The camp that started on July 22 at the University of Birmingham is scheduled to end on August 1, before the athletes move to London for the start of the games on August 4.
Ian Forbes, the first vice-president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), who is the team manager to the London championship, confirmed to the Jamaica Observer that some athletes were still working through visa issues, but the team official did not offer a figure on how many athletes were affected.
“Just a handful of them… it’s not a large number. I don’t have the specific information, but they are actually being processed and we are confident that for the most part it will be resolved,” said Forbes.
The JAAA has named a 56-member team to the 16th staging of the IAAF World Championships, and with a number of athletes either living or training overseas, pulling all the elements together from an organisational standpoint has had its challenges.
“Some of this came from the fact that a number of them are based overseas and travel to all parts. So sometimes in terms of applying it’s a little tricky. If they apply overseas sometimes it takes longer, but we have persons working to expedite the process and we are confident that it will be resolved,” Forbes reiterated.
“Whatever is being done is granted at the discretion of whoever is issuing, so we have contingencies in place. But we are remaining positive and hopeful that everything will be sorted out in time,” he added.
Meanwhile, veteran coach Michael Clarke has withdrawn from the coaching panel, in what Forbes said was personal reasons.
Clarke, the most successful high school coach with 16 titles, has been an integral part of Jamaica’s senior team over the years serving in different positions.
“Michael was initially on the team, but then he has some personal issues to address and he was unable to make it,” Forbes revealed.
Maurice Wilson of Holmwood technical fame, now at Sprintec and GC Foster College, will again be the head coach. Fitz Coleman, Paul Francis, Jerry Holness, Lennox Graham, Julian Robinson and David Riley are the other coaches. Donald Quarrie is technical leader.
With Jamaica sending a larger team than the 2015 edition, Forbes is quietly confident they can surpass the 12 medals earned in Beijing.
“Of course the last one was spectacular and excellent performances. This team has a lot of quality in it as well. If they execute well, I am optimistic that they can do very well,” said Forbes.