media_artricles :: 2014

Bledman needs his funding

With the NGC/Sagicor Open Championships less than three weeks away, reigning sprint champion Keston Bledman is still without elite funding for the 2014 season. Florida-based Bledman told the Express he has been contacting the Ministry of Sport about his cheque.

“I have no funding for the year yet. I always get money last. I’m very grateful for it because it helps a lot, a lot. But I’ve been performing for the last two years, and every time I call it’s not ready, not ready. I need the money. I’m using my money to pay for all the things—massages, vitamins, rent, grocery. I have to live.”

In addition to his normal expenses, Bledman now has to find money for medical bills. On Saturday, he pulled up injured during the men’s 100m final at the National Training Centre/Pure Athletics Last Chance Meet, in Clermont, Florida. The 26-year-old eventually crossed the line eighth and last in 11.69 seconds.

Another Trinidad and Tobago sprinter, Richard “Torpedo” Thompson clocked 9.74 to win the race.

However, the wind gauge malfunctioned, and the time is not being recognised as a legal clocking.

Bledman, who had produced a 10.15 run in the qualifying round, was forced to skip training yesterday.

“I’m in pain. This week I’ll be seeing the doctor.”

Bledman is a double Olympic 4x100m medallist. At the 2012 London Games, he ran the leadoff leg in the final despite hip and groin injuries. T&T earned bronze, and are expected to be upgraded to silver following the disqualification of US sprinter Tyson Gay for a doping offence. Gay ran the third leg for the Americans in the Olympic final.

“I don’t want anybody to pat me on my back,” said Bledman, “but after London nobody asked me, ‘How’s your groin?’”

Bledman also performed leadoff duties when T&T seized silver at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and again at last month’s IAAF World Relays in Nassau, Bahamas.

“I was feeling the groin from World Relays, but I ran, giving my all for Trinidad and Tobago.”

Bledman, the 2012 and 2013 national 100m champion, is joint-second on the all-time T&T performance list with Ato Boldon at 9.86 seconds. Thompson is the national record holder at 9.85.

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