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Austin Sealy Says Keep Pressing On

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Submitted by Bush Tea
Austin Sealy
Austin Sealy

From the Nation -August 17, Sir Austin calls to keep pressing on…. International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Sir Austin Sealy hopes that Barbados will not be disheartened by the modest performances at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Speaking last night on telephone link-up from the Copacabana Beach in Rio, Sir Austin told the MIDWEEK NATION that no stone should be left unturned in ensuring that Barbados make an improved showing in the future. “I know that there will be some disappointment with none of the athletes advancing and making an impact, but that is the way the cookie crumbles. We have got to keep trying and working hard and understanding what is required to do well at the Olympics,” he said.

This is the kind of convoluted thinking that explains the quagmire that Barbados has become. Here we have a recent knight – honoured for his now forty or so years of leadership in local sport, explaining the abject failure of local talent to shine in ANY WAY comparable to other Caribbean islands…calling for more of the same.

Did Sealy call for CHANGE?

Did he call for a NEW approach?

Did he critically assess the old approaches that CLEARLY does not work?

Did Sealy suggest that the current long-term leadership gracefully RESIGN?

 

None of the above. His advice is for us to continue ‘pressing on’…

What the hell!

But we all know why Sealy and his associates want to keep ‘pressing on’ with their luxurious lifestyles. We know how they personally thrive on the ‘fatted’ sports-calf – even as our athletes lack the most basic of requirements.

It is no wonder the DLP clings to power – even in the face of their own clear knowledge of their incompetence. It is no wonder that, even as their EVERY project fails; as their highly prized FOREX falls; as their every scam is exposed to public scrutiny and ridicule, …our leaders ‘press on…’

It is one thing for DEM to keep on doing the same thing and expect different results…but it is another thing altogether for US to be allowing clear jackasses to keep on riding US, as people ….. and expecting to EVER win.

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198 responses to “Austin Sealy Says Keep Pressing On”

  1. Exclaimer Avatar
    Exclaimer

    Several of the contributors to this post seem to be under the illusion that the reason why our athletes are under performing is due entirely to the lack of government support for our sporting “elite”and our sport’s infrastructure. I totally disagree with this argument.

    We can all agree that the minimum requisite for a sportsman/woman to have in their make-up is to be endowed with a degree of “raw” talent. How can we expect our athletes to become great achievers when they so clearly lack this basic but necessary raw material?

    What of those fifthteen percent of our athletes who may have the potential to convert that raw talent into a honed and a refined talent? Our poor conversion rates are due entirely to the psychological deficiencies of our so-called “elite” sportsmen/women.

    They do not possess the mental fortitude to succeed, they do not understand what
    sacrifices they have to make in their lives in order to reach their maximum potential within their endeavoured sport. They have set their bar so low that mediocrity has always been the norm of our sporting achievements and ambitions.

    If we want to succeed in sports we need to take a good look at our Jamaican neighbours. One only needs to look at the broad range of sports that Jamaica has adopted over the last twenty years to realise that these people are serious about their sports. When a Jamaican takes up a sport, irrespective of the sport they put in the maximum effort. Those guys do not joke.

    The failure of our athletes is largely justified. They were born and conceived in a nation which has scant regard for sporting achievement. We have an education system which has failed to embrace a sporting culture which would ultimately benefit the health and well-being of our society.

    To be successful sportsman/women one must be hungry; there is no place for mediocrity.

  2. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Exclaimer. ..the athletes who possess the raw talent…..are not selected from primary school level, they exist but are not courted or recruited….the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age do not exist in Barbados.

    It’s found in Europe and North America, Latin, Central and South America and Asia, it’s found in Jamaica….but not in Barbados.,,, the talent has to be nurtured and harnessed.

    De Grasse of Canada was scouted at a meet, the right person was there at the right time, spotted his potential and gave him a card….very good coaches and scouts have a knack for spotting exceptional talent.

  3. David Avatar
    David

    @Exclaimer

    Have you ever been to Jamaica during Champs?

  4. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    De Grasse is of Trinidadian and Barbadian descent.

    His mother Beverley De Grasse was a high school sprinter in her native Trinidad and Tobago

  5. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    Exclaimer and Well, Well, no intent to get into a stupid argument with either of you but some of what you say is wrong. You are both dissing quite erroneously a large cross section of dedicated coaches who over the years have spotted lots of talented folks and placed them on a path to use their athletic talent to improve their lot in life.

    To suggest that “Our poor conversion rates are due ENTIRELY (my emphasis) to the psychological deficiencies of our so-called “elite” sportsmen/women” or “the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age do not exist in Barbados” does not conform to the realities on the island that my limited experience offered.

    To accept what you are saying it means that people like Jerston Clarke and Frank Blackman (Blackie) and Deighton Maynard and their peers and the younger set of the Orlando Greens (HC), Harcourt Wasons (Com) and then the much younger set who are out there now were either jokers or blatantly incompetent. And to suggest that would be balderdash. You are also saying that all those ‘stars’ who went before Oba were mentally incapable. Nonsense.

    I recall serious ‘scouting’ at under 12 and other age group football way back in the day when that T&T dude (Marquez if I recall correctly) ran a soccer program at the YMCA. Over the years hockey players have been scouted at the annual tournament Banks sponsored (then the sponsors) and recruited to colleges. Of course athletes were scouted since the 70s. We have had cyclists on the world scene also.

    Yes this is all very piddling and does not show a path to Olympic or World championship achievement so we can definitely agree that a serious comprehensive ongoing effort is needed so that Bdos can produce more quality athletes and sportsmen.

    However, to suggest that it’s due to psychological deficiencies or to exhort that no scouting is done is just absolutely WRONG.

  6. David Avatar
    David

    WTF is minister Stephen Lashley doing in Rio? His hotel and travel fare could have been better utilized by donating to a needy family.

    Lashley: Team Barbados Making Us Proud

    Published on August 18, 2016 by Jamal Weekes/Ministry of Sports

    Minister of Sports, Stephen Lashley (middle row, 4th from left) posing with members of the Barbados Olympic Team 2016 in Rio, Brazil. (GP)Minister of Sports, Stephen Lashley (middle row, 4th from left) posing with members of the Barbados Olympic Team 2016 in Rio, Brazil. (GP)

    Minister of Sports Stephen Lashley has congratulated Barbadian athletes and officials on their performance at the 2016 Olympic Games.

    During a visit to the Athletes Village in Rio, Minister Lashley acknowledged that while Barbados had not secured a medal, praise was still in order for the competing Barbadian athletes as they continue to give competitive and determined performances in the Olympic Games.

    According to the Minister, Team Barbados has shown "great mettle” in one of the world’s most prestigious and keenly contested sporting events.

    "We have a very young but highly talented team of athletes who have done well at the Games. We now have to give them our continued full support and enhance whatever systems are required to sustain their improved performance going into next year’s World Championships and ultimately leading up to the next Olympics in 2020", he added.

    While in the Athletes Village, Minister Lashley met with the athletes individually and brought greetings on behalf of the Government and people of Barbados.

    He also joined President of the Barbados Olympic Association, Steve Stoute, in presenting special Olympic Certificates of Participation and medals to members of the entire Barbados contingent.

    The Minister was then taken on a tour of the Olympic Village where he was shown the special equipment used by the Barbados medical team to support the athletes.

  7. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Pedant…was Frank Blackman not a football coach….I dont know of any foottball team going to the olympics…particularly in the 70s when Frank coached youngsters….we are speaking about selecting that special talent for olymoic qualifications….in 2016 and in the last 10 years.

    “To suggest that “Our poor conversion rates are due ENTIRELY (my emphasis) to the psychological deficiencies of our so-called “elite” sportsmen/women” or “the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age do not exist in Barbados” does not conform to the realities on the island that my limited experience offered.”

    So Pedant, by your above comment you are well aware that there are deficiencies in the selection and training process used for athletes, so you should be not only able to enlighten us about the causes of these inefficiencies, but also supply solutions…instead of becoming all defensive about people who no longer coach anyone since they are most of them long deceased and were not responsible for today’s problems..stop living in the past and deal with present day realities.

    BTW…ya forgot one of the greatest coaches from Carrington Village…Clarke, now decased and since ya know them so well ya should be able to supply his first name.

  8. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    *deceased

  9. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    I was merely adding a perspective, As noted I will not engage in irrational argumentation. You offered a perspective which I find to be factual inaccurate and fundamentally impractical. The reference to a past was to reflect that the process you and Exclaimer condemned as non-existent now was in fact very alive years ago. It is therefore irrational in my view to suggest that it is now completely in abeyance. I was not being defensive. I was refuting impracticality.

    All of those former coaches begat younger coaches who learned newer methods and practices so the point should be clear. If the older coaches did it back then, I expect that the younger coaches did it too – and better. It’s amazing (laughable) that you would consider that reference as living in the past.

    One Olympic medal in 50 years clearly confirms that deficiencies exist. That is not in dispute.
    Just as obviously there is frustration and current difficulties and as shown by the simple example of the Minister’s unnecessary trip to Brazil, frustration with improper use of scarce funds.

    Yet none of that gets us to the statements made by the two of you.

    Incidentally I mentioned coaches across different disciplines to show that various folks operated to seek out talented youngsters. Whether Blackman was a football coach or not is irrelevant…but the Blackman to whom I referred certainly also coached athletics.

    I dun wid you and that. Forget all I said and revert that you were right to say: “the system for scouting talented athletes from so young an age [does] not exist in Barbados”. LOLL

  10. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    On last thing Well,Well…and this IS being defensive. oh lawd!

    India with its 1.2 Billion people has won less than 30 Olympic medals since their first visit to a Games in 1900 and then from 1920 at every Games thereafter. And their brilliant hockey tradition that I recall as a boy seemed to place them somewhere on an Olympic podium is definitely no longer a certain medal since these last several years.

    You can do the population calculation to compare them to Bim and our paltry one medal but they should have a moboton more, I suspect. So I suggest they definitely must have deep psychological problems and grave deficiencies in scouting talent to be so terrible in producing first class Olympic athletes.

    Consider that China also has over one billion people… just a few hundred million more than India, And with less years at the Games because of boycotts and so on…yet they have 16 times more medals.

    And another tidbit…I read some where that more than 44 Chinese born Table Tennis players were in Rio. FORTY FOUR. Only six of course played for China.

    Just saying! We are not the only ones with deficiencies. LOLL

  11. balance Avatar
    balance

    “Incidentally I mentioned coaches across different disciplines to show that various folks operated to seek out talented youngsters. Whether Blackman was a football coach or not is irrelevant…but the Blackman to whom I referred certainly also coached athletics.”

    Correct is right- Frank Blackman was involved only in athletics. Matter of fact he was the premier but unsupported athletics coach in the sixties and did it more out of love for interest in the sport.

  12. balance Avatar
    balance

    “Hants August 19, 2016 at 7:42 PM #

    De Grasse is of Trinidadian and Barbadian descent.

    His mother Beverley De Grasse was a high school sprinter in her native Trinidad and Tobago”

    And what’s the point? so was the black Bradman George Headley of Barbadian descent-

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Glen Mills: the man behind Usain Bolt’s record-shattering career

  14. 9 Avatar
    9

    Barbados had the greatest in sir garfield sobers , Jamaica have their great in Usain Bolt what does these two men have in common
    These men were born great ,their are mortals beings whose accomplishments are not man made they were set and developed before birth by a higher calling

  15. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Dribbler
    It hurts when you place Bushie in the invidious position of having to agree with you in principle…. 🙂

    The difference between China and India is a national policy of talent identification at primary school level, and thereafter a focused and methodological march towards Olympic medal success. If the rules allowed, ALL table tennis players at the Olympics would probably be Chinese.
    You should note that this approach has also crept into Chinese INDUSTRY, and they are now the WORLD leaders in production, manufacturing, technology, and science.
    Soon they will establish the same dominance in military and political might.

    The ability to identify, nurture, and harness natural talent towards an identified goal is probably the single most impactful component of success. Sport acts as a pilot project and a launch platform for national success if this is properly understood.

  16. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Pedant….after finding yourself boxed in by yourself, you still did not tell me WHO is responsible for the inefficiencies in NOT selecting the most talented athletes with olympic potential from PEIMARY SCHOOL.

    I hope you can understand that the MORE athletes you send to the olympics, the better your chances are at medaling…..dont care how large ya population India, China, Africa, the smallest island Jamaica, could have the better, faster, most talented athletes because it starts with the POINT OF SELECTION.

    Why ya think they send so many, out of 60 athletes 2 or 3 might medals…have you not noticed the large and varied selection Canada sent this year…..notice they will send more to Japan next olympics….cause they are well aware, given this year’s successes, they have to up their game to maintain their current standing and achieve more medaling..

    I hope you do, does understand that…lol

    pourquoi êtes-vous si simple d’esprit , je sais Canada ne nit le faire

  17. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Bushman…ya beating ya head against a pedant wall…he may understand somem but the overall big picture escapes him…..athletes do not select themselves for the olympics, someone scouts them out, someone else coaches and directs their energies accordingly……Pedant is trying to insert deceased men like Frank and Clarke into something in which they did not have a hand since Barbados could not have been representing in the olympics for more than 16 to 20 years….l8ng after these coaches had either passed on or grown too old to coach.

    The greedy US…they know Gatlin screwed up last night…..sends hundreds of athletes…so they can acquire 105 medals as they have done so far, which is practical and admirable, except for when they are being greedy cause they know Gatlin should stay disqualified.

  18. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Blackman did not seek out any athletes for the olympic games, that came after his time….long after why is that so hard to understsnd…..for olympic representation, you seek out those BORN with the RAW talent embedded in their DNA…they are IDENTIFIABLE from PRIMARY SCHOOL…they just need to be FOUND….they exist in Barbados…as with every Caribbean island.

    The most important thing in the olympics is the taking part…but….there are those exceptional athletes who were born for the olympics…they just need to be found.

  19. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Pedant…I hope you get it now.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    Google+ Calendar Web more Bin Delete forever [Barbados Underground] Comment: “Austin Sealy Says Keep Pressing On” Bin B Barbados Underground

  21. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    I am too old to get to 2020 Olympics as an athlete, but I going as an official.
    We need at least two officials per athlete.

  22. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    The Minister delivered “Certificates of Participation”, I guess the athletes will wave those on their return to Bim, this is a Monty Python sketch waiting to happen. Lawd mek peace, I hay laughing my arse off wtf “Certificates of Participation” laughter is not de best medicine cause I gwine

  23. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Ya need to find those exceptional athletes, apart from De Grasse who was lucky to be found before he aged out…

    …the dude running for Japan who came second to Bolt….father black Jamaican, mother Japanese, he was raised in Jamaica, his horsepower harnesed in Jamaica and Japan has now unleashed that horsepower on the world using their renowned precision.

    Instead of just talking, Sealy and the coaches should be scouring the primary and high schools from now…and give these potential olympians they opportunities they deserve….they are there, they EXIST…find them.

  24. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @Bushie, nah problem we can share a drink on this and then cuss each other another time. But yeah China will dominate. They already do in many areas so you mean ‘soon’ they will replace US as the dominant world economy. Period.

    With that in mind I am amazed at the ‘key brand name’ assets the US, Australia and Britain et al are selling to them BUT of course when Apple gets a large chunk of their revenue from China (despite all the cloning) it becomes even more pellucid still that the West needs China to fuel their continued growth.

    No wonder President Trump in their faces so aggressively. Either as President of the US or President of Trump Inc. he will be negotiating big deals with the Chinese in 2018. Believe me on that. LOLL.

    @Well. well. Incidentally, this same Bushman gave an expressive overview on an early post on what is needed to improve the inefficiencies. Not for my to pontificate here on that anyhow. There are very sensible people who know exactly how and why they are screwing-up.

    Anyhow, as you said I don’t understand the bigger picture, so tally-ho!

  25. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    Just putting in my two cents…..
    Several has made the excellent point that Barbados cannot just sit back and wait for an exceptional talent to emerge; identifying and nurturing this talent from and early stage, providing knowledgeable training and ‘adequate facilities must be part of a national strategy.

    I believe if I were to check the records for 2008, 2012 and 2016, I would see similar suggestions being made to remedy our paucity of medals. This is a quadrennial discussion which reaches it apex in the last few days of Olympic competition and our tally of medals is zero. Let’s find a way to keep this discussion going, so that it does not ends with the end of this Olympics and resurfaces four years later.

    It seems to me that national sporting bodies must already be aware of what our problems are and what are the possible solutions.

    Perhaps, there is a need to launch a continuous assault on those who manage our sports; perhaps, now is the time to begin a dedicated campaign for the 2020 Olympics. Let’s get those square pegs out of round holes; let’s raise the ‘criterion’ above ensuring that we have at least one athlete just make the Olympic standards, so that a band of officials can pack their suitcases for travel. Let’s demand results from today.

    I am willing to bet, that though we may have not have a clue of the athletes going to the 2020 Olympics, the 2020 Olympic team (of officials) has already been picked.

    Is it possible that cronyism, nepotism, and favoritism is rampant because those in charge have no real faith in our athletes being successful? If you thought that two athletes have zero chances of winning a medal, wouldn’t you take along ‘your son’ if he was one of the two who made the standard.

    There will be no Olympic Gold medals under these sporting (bodies) fools.

  26. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    The one thing that amazes me is the amount of brains displayed on BU.

    Whilst we may argue about if Barbados is in a lower weight class, it is clear that there is an over abundance of brain power on the island.

    The poster team delivers posters that if one look at them very critically, one would see that the thoughts behind them are just brilliant.

    The various bloggers, some of whose politics i find too US oriented, are scholarly and often make exceptional contributions.

    Of course we have a few who are otherwise but ‘even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story’.

    In summary, Barbados has the brains to meet the challenges that are ahead of us. We have to find away to use the full brain rather than just the B or D half.

  27. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Another Olympics and nothing to show for it but look on the bright side some people received free trips and accommodation, some people got to “site see” (no favela tours of course), some people got to hob nob with the IOC elite and some people got to see the backs of the other athletes as they thundered down the track.

    The rich countries that poured money and resources into their Sports programs will win the bulk of the medals, the poor countries except for Jamaica which has a lock on the sprint medals will receive the odd medal because of some exceptional athlete, the African countries will win most of the distance races, The Jamaicans seem to have inherited the fast twitch gene from their African ancestors, these same genes have been bred out of the Barbadian populace (perhaps some budding scientist should do a makeup of the Bajan DNA pool vs the Jamaican DNA and observe that the Bajan DNA is mostly comprised of people who originated in Liverpool vs the Jamaican pool which will be mainly of people from West Africa (look I am just ruminating).

    The Olympics was and is always about prestige my country is better than yours etc. remember the East Germans? At one time they used the Olympics to try to justify that their political system was better than any through their athletes though if you said “Guten Morgen” to their female swimmers you would likely get a response from a voice south of “Bandit” late of the Opels. That voice was accompanied by a physique with bulging muscles that Earl Maynard or Darcy Beckles would envy. Later when the regime was dismantled the Stasi secret files revealed the extent of the drug program that wrecked the lives of the people subjected to it but the east Germans kept their medals; notably Putin embarked on a similar program in Russia in recent years.

    This morning I am watching the canoe/kayak races on the National broadcaster in the country North of the 49th parallel, in addition to over 300 athletes it has sent over 300 officials to cater to the athletes every need, any success is celebrated and discussed around water coolers, bars, backyards and political offices. The country will continue to pour money into Sports and there is a program called “own the Podium” which is a bit controversial but is targeted at getting the country to win more medals. It is a wealthy country with a relatively small population and the medal haul is small compared to the behemoth beside it and China if it is having to expend so much money with limited results what are the poor countries to do?

  28. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    Followed a link and read an editorial ‘invest in our athletes’.
    If I used that as a yardstick some contributors here get an A++

  29. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    The petty little officials in Barbados, should start looking firvthe olympic potentials based in talent, strength, commitment and skills, do not use classism, if the the kids parents got, money, car, house or ifm they are affiliated to a political party…that’s nonsense, it’s backward.

    It’s heartbreaking to hear what Akela went through starting at her high school because of her humble beginnings, which was not her fault, now she is reaching her pinnacle.

    The Bowie girl from the Southern US..had even humbler beginnings, now she is on the world stage, stop the ignorant classism and ya will find your olympians in Barbados.

    DeGrasse was signed with Puma and chosen for commercials….before winning any medal at the olympics, it’s his very first ….your successful journey start when you qualify to represent.

  30. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    I am sure Akela has already signed her contracts…stop being idiots and do the right thing for the kids and the island.

  31. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    @Sargeant
    Despite your remarkable gene pool theory :-), we should at least have a fraction of the success of the Jamaicans.

    As other here have pointed out, a large part of the success comes from identifying, nurturing and training young talent. Money alone is not the answer or Saudi Arabia would be a super power.

  32. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    @WW&C
    Greetings.
    I see you still have your A game.
    Keep on punching.

  33. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @The Gazer

    Or we could import a few Jamaicans to represent us, check out the number of Jamaican born sprinters representing countries like Turkey, Bahrain etc. the Turks renamed their athlete Jak Ali Harvey I think he was originally Jack Harvey. The Gulf rich states have also imported some African runners to represent their country Ruth Jebet born in Kenya won Gold in the 3000 metres steeplechase. The oil rich nations are buying the talent that they don’t have naturally and money always talks.

    BTW Merlene Ottey the great Jamaican sprinter who used to carry the flag when the Jamaican sprint program was wavering and whom the Americans derisively called “The Bronze queen” (because she used to come third to the US first and second) ended her career representing Slovenia.

  34. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Greetings to you too Anonymice..I do not know why we have to be telling this to sports officials and government officials who love to boast about their 95% literacy rate. They should ALL already know all of it and SHOULD be APPLYING it.

    Akeka did not even have a heptathlon partner frim the island, she was on her own and despite that she excelled….sending 2 or more of each from the various disciplines.., builds confidence in current and future olympians.

    Someone told me there are a few coaches on the island who can spot the current talents……but more effort needs to be put into finding, harnessing and maintaining those olympic talents.

  35. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    RE Sargeant August 20, 2016 at 10:06 AM #
    YOU CONTINUE TO MAKE THE MOST SENSE HERE

  36. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Sargeant …ya failed to mention that since Ottey stopped running..Jamaica has been kicking US ass ever since in the the women’s 100, 200 and relays, lsst night is one if thr few times US won the relay from Jamaica…since Ottey stopped running.

    Jamaica knows they have to find faster runners than Fraser-Price and Campbell-Browne because the US has new runners, Bowie, Gardner and a few other new talents. Jamaica has tge new Elaine Thompson to kick ass….they know to maintain.

    Barbados cannot train or maintain their talents…where will they find millions to pay Olympians to run for them, they dont come cheaply….olympians sign 10 million dollar contracts to model shoes. ..ya think ya can pay them to run…lol

    Ya better start finding ya young olympians and training them for 2020, 2024, 2028…etc…and be thankful the old satan America still gives the young athletes in the Caribbean athletic scholarships and opportunities..l8l

  37. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Should read:

    Olympians sign annual 10 million dollar contracts to model shoes. ..ya think ya can pay them to run…lol

    That is 10 million annually…to model athletic shoes, shades, shirts, pants..it’s a business, ya think Barbados can tell them one year they broke and cant pay them…despite the contract…ha!!!

  38. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    We might get lucky.

    “The world’s best triple jumper hasn’t ruled out donning the ultramarine and gold after saying he’s still seriously considering representing Barbados at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/84635/taylors-dream#sthash.e1yrbd1v.dpuf

  39. David Avatar
    David

    The talk about about importing players is nonsense and serves as a distraction. If we benefit by them coming fine but is does not address the management issue we have been discussing to aspire to excellence in what we do.

  40. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    By NAN Sports Editor

    News Americas, RIO, Brazil, Thurs. Aug. 18, 2016: He is noticeable because he is the only black man on the Japanese men’s relay team and on Thursday morning he left many tongues wagging as he anchored his team to the win over favorites Jamaica in the 4×100-m men’s relay heats.

    But few bothered to note that Asuka “Aska” Antonio Cambridge was actually born in Jamaica, West Indies even though he is running for Japan. Cambridge’s father is Jamaican and his mother Japanese.

    The 23-year-old, who helped shatter the Japanese and Asian records for the 4×100-m Thursday as well in a time of 37.68, has been running in sprinting events from a young age.

    He competed for his high school in Tokyo and later at Nihon University, where he studied literature and science. He was fourth in the 100 m at the 2011 National Sports Festival of Japan.

    At the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics he narrowly missed out on the 200 m final but he excelled in the relay alongside Kazuma Oseto, Akiyuki Hashimoto, and Kazuki Kanamori – the team ran an Asian junior record of 39.01 seconds in the heats (the fastest of all the qualifiers) and were just one hundredth slower in the final, where they claimed the bronze medals.

    In 2013, Cambridge improved his personal bests to 10.33 seconds for the 100 m and 20.62 seconds for the 200 m. He won his first international gold medals at the 2013 East Asian Games in October: he beats compatriot Shōta Iizuka in the 200 m to become East Asian champion and then teamed up with his rival to secure the 4×100 metres relay title for Japan. Their time of 38.44 seconds was a new East Asian Games record – an improvement of nearly half a second.
    Cambridge qualified for Rio by winning the 100-m final at the Japan Championships in 10.16.

  41. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Many olympic athletes opt at some time to represent the land of their parents or grandparent’s birth…it is a distinct possibility.

  42. Anonymice - TheGazer Avatar
    Anonymice – TheGazer

    Not bad talking the guy, but it may sound so…
    Willing to bet that he represents Barbados only if he does not make the US team. This happens quite often. If they don’t make the cut in one country, they pop up in another country.

  43. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @Well Well & Consequences….despite your other brilliant posts on BU…you sometimes say things that have absolutely no logical moorings. This is such a remark: “Blackman did not seek out any athletes for the olympic games, that came after his time….”

    To the point made by @Balance, when I started secondary school in the 70s I saw Blackie around and about regularly training and grooming athletes. He was very involved directly and indirectly with many (if not all) of the Olympic athletes who represented Barbados during the 70s and 80s surely. He was still involved as late as with Oba, as well. Oba himself was quoted somewhere as calling the man brilliant.

    So I have no idea where or how your remarks are valid.

    Anyone who reads stuff here can easily verify for their own benefit. I suspect that you speak not just to be heard but to actually add credible commentary to the debate. Your statement above is thus duly corrected. Just say ‘merci’ and move on.

    Please remember that Jim Wedderburn in 1960 was one of the first Bajan athletes who attended the Olympics as part of a WI team (or Commonwealth team or whatever they were officially called) so to suggest that Blackman did not seek youngsters for the Olympics because we only started doing this ‘recently’ is rather counter intuitive and abjectly WRONG.

    Incidentally the doc corrected the blog that Oba’s parents were Guyanese and Bermudan. We all know that he married a Belizean superstar athlete (drugs apart), so therein is one possible answer to the gene management for quality athletes being recommended here: their children. But will they rep for Bdos or Belize.

  44. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    In that case Pedant, I stand corrected, seems like you had to go search out the information, I was not in Barbados in the late 70s or 80s and cannot remember if Orlando Greene, brilliant athlete at the time ever ran the olympics, why did you not share the time frame that Barbados actually entered the Olymoics…..why did I have to drag it out of you….lol..

    it says Wedderburn won a bronze in the relay in 1968, first time Barbados entered the Olympics….what happened to the relay team that should have been replaced with new talent as seen fit from 1968 to 2016.

    So from 1968 to 2016, sports and government officials did not see it necessary to seek out their olympians which exist on the island, ya have to keep rotating ya athletes, to get the right fit, the right mix, I cannot say this enough..keep sending one horse to a race for decades and see what happens.

    I thought Oba is married to the many gold medaled American Marion Jones born in Los Angeles California, did not know she was from Belize…who told you she was from Belize…Google has the info.

    Pedant….ya need a real job you know that…lol

  45. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    http://ow.ly/blZL303qu6E

    This is whom Oba is married to Pedant.

  46. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Now with all jokes aside…from 1968 to 2016, Barbados has no excuse not to have maintained a relay team of olympians or send more potential olympians for qualifying times.

    There was so much boasting over the decades about the island having first world status and being the most wealthy, most developed of the Caribbean islands…all kinds of garbage…yet islands with smaller populations and much less funding seek out and send their olympians out for exposure..

    ……and we cannot forget or ignore that the US always makes athletic scholarships available for athletes with potential from Caribbean islands…..so what’s the excuse….eh!!!

  47. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    Marion Jones…..

    “she was raised by her mother, Marion Toler, a medical-legal transcriptionist who had immigrated to the United States from Belize.

  48. Well Well & Consequences Avatar
    Well Well & Consequences

    Lol….I dont know how Pedant turned that into Oba being married to a Belizean and all the other stuff he came up with. ..everyone knows Marion Jones the olympian is a born and bred American…it’s all over the internet, couple years ago there was a documentary made about it showing the kids, one belong to Marion and Tim Montgomery, the other to Oba and Marion.

  49. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    Brazil wins Soccer Gold on penalties after extra time, Brazil had the better run but couldn’t convert while Germany seemed content to wait for the penalty kicks. Brazil obtained some revenge after the 7-0 shellacking in the last Word Cup

  50. David Avatar
    David

    A good show by Neymar.

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