Tonight the discussion continues on the topic of Kaina Martinez’s exclusion from Belize’s Olympic team. As we told you yesterday the National Garifuna Council came out with a strongly worded press release demanding that the Belize Athletic Association rescind its decision of sending Kathy Sealy and immediately engage Martinez as a possible candidate for the Rio Olympics. But just how feasible are these demands? The Olympics, after all, are less than two months away. Today we asked the president of the BAA if that is something they can consider at this time. Here is what he told us.
Deon Sutherland - President, BAA
"At this juncture no, what is done is done in terms of the selection in terms of the representation we cannot change that because we have no control over the processes of the IOC who is the International Olympic Committee nor the Organization Committee in Rio. They asked for information, information was submitted while it was gathered. They asked for the final roster to be in, we sent in those final roster; at this juncture one month before the start of the Olympics there is nothing else we can do."
Emanuel Pech
"Would you concede though based on performed Kaina out performed Ms. Kathy Sealy because that was one of the things that alluded to in a show on Channel 7?"
Deon Sutherland - President, BAA
"I would be a fool to object to that, definitely in terms of performance she is one of the top performer but again remember while the Olympics is based on performance, it is also based of protocol and procedures and if those procedures are not follow your performance is worth nothing."
Emanuel Pech
"But if it were only based on performance, Kaina would be out there representing Belize?"
Deon Sutherland - President, BAA
"Well definitely."
Emanuel Pech
"Do you all regret not having her on that final roster?"
Deon Sutherland - President, BAA
"I think there is a level of the fact that yes we would have preferred her on the roster because of her performance however as I said before that is not here nor there for us because we have to be our selection based on the performance as I said before but also who is registered with the NOC and the IOC so. It's nothing we can do if you’re not registered to go to the Olympics then how can we send you? Whilst people would say it is our duty and our responsibility to ensure that she is registered; I mean Kaina is in Texas, we are in Belize, we can only ask for these information to be sent to us. And therefore there is nothing more than we can do other than try to get the information and send it in. We don't have control of when the information comes in. When we get it, we send it, if we don't get it, we can't send."
Emanuel Pech
"One of the things Ms. Kaina said that she indeed sent the information. Was this some sort of miscommunication?"
Deon Sutherland - President, BAA
"There is no miscommunication, there are deadlines to meet and those deadlines are set by Rio; and if those deadlines are not met then there is nothing we can do."
Sutherland couldn’t tell us just how late Kaina Martinez was in delivering her information but he did affirm to us that Martinez was their first pick from the very beginning. For the record, she and her trainer Colin Thurton have said she submitted all information on a regular basis and in a timely manner.
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