media_artricles :: 2017

Unfinished business

Relay men, Sport Ministry at odds over elite funding

While he's grateful and proud that Trinidad and Tobago will be upgraded to 4x100m relay gold from the Beijing Olympics, Richard Thompson is concerned about some unfinished business with the Ministry of Sport here.

The same day that the International Olympic Committee announced that it was stripping Jamaica of the gold medal from 2008, thus leaving original runners-up Trinidad and Tobago in line for the top spot, Thompson, who ran the anchor leg for T&T in Beijing, raised the non-payment of Elite Athlete Assistance last year to members of that quartet.

In a Facebook post on behalf of the 2008 4x100m team made around 10 p.m. Wednesday night, Thompson first said he and the other members of the quartet--Keston Bledman, Marc Burns and Emmanuel Callender--thanked "everyone for the outpouring of love shown to us today (Wednesday) on hearing the fortunate news that T&T has been upgraded from silver to gold."

He added: "We may sound repetitive, but we really mean it when we say that every opportunity that we're given to represent T&T is truly an honour. We've experienced highs and lows but regardless of what time or place the result board shows, there's no greater pride than seeing the TTO next to our name," Thompson's post stated.

But he also indicated that while, "we all want to come back home to the fanfare...Unfortunately, this is not our fairytale story."

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