media_artricles :: 2015

Smith promises help for all athletes

Minister of Sports Darryl Smith has said he will ensure that monies owed to athletes, particularly for preparation for the coming Olympic Games, will be given to them. He was responding yesterday to claims by TT’s 100 metres hurdler Deborah John that she is still awaiting funding from the Government to help her prepare for the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro Brazil next year.

John, who contested the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, last year, but failed to qualify out of the heats rounds, said she has been getting a lot of runaround to get funding although she is expected to join a preparation camp in Texas ahead of the Olympics.

In an interview on Friday, John said she met with Brian Lewis, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC), as well as someone by the name of Cindy at the Ministry of Sports recently, so she hopes that those meetings will bring some luck to her. The camp, she said started in September and therefore she will have a lot of catch-up work to do when she goes there.

Smith yesterday said he was unaware of that situation and added that he had met with the various National Sporting Organisations recently, under whose purview that matter should be taken care of. “John’s situation will fall under the responsibility of the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAAs) which I believe is one of the better run sporting organisations in the country, so I believe that situation will be taken care of there” Minister Smith said.

However, he gave the assurance that he will meet with the relevant authorities to ensure that athletes are given monies that are rightfully owed to them for their preparation. Contacted yesterday, public relations officer of the NAAAs Peter Samuel said there is a process by which athletes must follow to get funding and once they do so, funding will be given to them.

According to Samuel, no athlete has gotten money for preparation for the Olympics to date but his organisation will not refuse funding to athletes to train ahead of major tournament like the olympics. “Usually athletes were asked to go through processes by the NAAAs or the TTOC to get funding in the past but some athletes were allowed to bypass the NAAAs and TTOC and still get funding approved from other people within the ministry,” Samuel said.

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