An account of Yassin’s failure at G.O.A

By Edison Jefford, Oct 02, 2016, Sports, http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....ns-failure-at-g-o-a/

It is not sufficient to announce the failure of the Guyana Olympic Association (G.O.A) President, K. A. Juman Yassin to get Guyana on the Olympic medals podium without also presenting some empirical evidence to substantiate such a courageous claim.

I had stated in the previous essay that I will continue my analysis. This column will show how Yassin failed famed Guyanese quarter-miler, Kadecia Baird and by implication, prevented a sure candidate from securing ANOTHER Olympic medal for Guyana.

I used “another” ironically since Guyana only has one Olympic medal (in 1980) from the fists of boxer Michael Parris. For context, Guyana has participated in the Olympic Games for 68 years with Yassin being G.O.A President in excess of 20 of those years.

To date, the country is still with one Olympic medal. United States-based, Baird was second at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Junior Championships in 2012 in Barcelona, Spain.

Baird was 17 at the time and ran 51.04 seconds; that performance meant that Baird was ranked second in the world among juniors in 2012. American Ashley Spencer won the race in 50.50 seconds with teammate Erika Rucker third in 51.10 seconds.

Baird was right up there with the most elite female junior quarter-milers in the world. Bahamian, Shaunae Miller was fourth in that race. I want to emphasise that our Guyanese athlete, Baird beat Miller in 2012.

It meant that Baird was better than Miller four years ago.

If you followed the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, you will know that Miller is the 400m Champion after the now famous ‘dive across’ the finish line to beat American, Allyson Felix in one of the most electrifying races of the Games.

Miller’s time was 49.44 seconds in that final. So from 2012 when Miller was fourth at the World Junior Championships with a time of 51.87 to 2016, the Bahamian was able to develop and lower her time to become the best female 400m sprinter in the world.

Miller is also a silver medallist from the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, China. It is clear that with the exception of Miller’s Adidas contract, which allowed her to become a professional athlete, her ascendancy was intentionally systematic.

The Adidas contract alone did not suffice; there was direct support on many different levels from Bahamas that put Miller on a path to success. With Baird projecting an obviously brilliant future in athletics in 2012, what role did Yassin, and the G.O.A play in ensuring the talented, elite athlete is on a victorious trajectory?

The answer to that question personifies Yassin’s failure. There are those who are attempting to justify G.O.A’s performance, stating that Yassin alone is not responsible. But that cannot stand up to scrutiny because Yassin is the Head of all Olympic sport in Guyana.

There are associations responsible for all the respective disciplines. However, the buck stops at Yassin in ensuring he facilitates associations to develop necessary programmes and provide the requisite assistance to help athletes develop through the different stages.

It is doubtful whether Yassin takes a hands-on approach to ensure talented prospects get the result they and this country deserve, which is international success and Olympic medals. If you ask Baird if there was an input to her career directly from the G.O.A, the response may be shocking.

After her 2012 world junior success, it was the responsibility of Yassin and the G.O.A to do what was necessary to guarantee Baird’s transition to the senior international and Olympic levels. Now at age 21, Baird is in College in the US and still competing, but she has not had the kinds of international triumph that is commensurate with her talent.

Miller is 22 years old and is a world silver medallist and Olympic Champion. What has Yassin done to bridge an obvious gulf between junior talent and senior success? At least a programme that answers that question was never revealed to the media, if there was ever such a programme.

Baird is just one example of the dysfunction that characterise the operations of the G.O.A under the tenure of Yassin. There were many athletes before, and even after, Baird. There was Randy Lee, Tai Payne, Keith Roberts and Annalisa Austin among several others.

This is merely one sport. There are other disciplines that can cite similar talent and failures of the G.O.A to develop programmes and mobilise stakeholders to aid in athletes’ comprehensive progress domestically and internationally.

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