Payne, Vaughn did not qualify for World Juniors - Blackmoore
Stabroek News
July 15, 2002
Amateur Athletic Association of Guyana (AAA) president Claude Blackmoore said yesterday that neither Cleveland Forde nor Michelle Vaughn made the qualifying times for participation at the World Junior Track and Field Championships which gets underway in Jamaica tomorrow.
Rather Payne's participation at the IAAF/Coca Cola World junior championships was made possible because of the IAAF's One athlete non qualified category.
According to a statement released by Blackmoore Vaughn returned 12.80m on July 6 in the triple jump while the IAAF's qualifying standard is 12.90m.
Forde was required to make 14 minutes 15 seconds to be able to qualify for the 5000-metre and 30 minutes 30 seconds for the 10,000-metre.
He did 15:21:71 for the 5000m and 31:51:13 for the 10,000m the release from Blackmoore stated. An IAAF correspondence points out that for an athlete to qualify, he/she must achieve the qualifying standard during the period of January 1, 2001 and July 2, 2002. Also, all performances must be achieved during competitions organised or sanctioned by the IAAF, its Area Associations and its National Member Federations.
Blackmoore's letter stated that the AAA's record indicated that no Guyanese athlete had qualified for the WJC and therefore Guyana's participation was in the "one athlete non qualified category" for which the IAAF technically made the selection.
According to Blackmoore, the AAA was informed in January of this year that Guyana was not issued with quota places, but the AAA were however advised to apply for "non quota" places for a male and a female athlete and the association's council selected Tai Payne and Gevita David, based on their 2001 performances.
The letter stated that the IAAF accepted Payne's nomination, but indicated that since David had not qualified she could not be accepted as the IAAF rules does not allow unqualified athletes in the long distance and field events.
According to the AAA's letter, Vaughn leapt 6.14m at this year's Whitsuntide Games in Grenada and the AAA immediately informed the IAAF but received an equally prompt response that Vaughn had not qualified, since she needed to achieve 6.15m.
"It was against this background that coach Foster Sampson assisted greatly in getting the three closest possible qualifiers into competition and in this regard Payne and Forde were sent to the Southern Games in Trinidad (June 11) and Payne and Vaughn to the National Championships of the AAA of Barbados, just prior to the start of the CAC Juniors" the letter stated.
According to Blackmoore, Guyana's representation at the WJC has nothing to do with sponsorship of athletes or with the closing date for entries. "Selection for the WJC was a straight question of achieving the IAAF qualification standard to get there," the letter stated.