The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The fallout from the drama surrounding the men's 4x400m relay at the recent IAAF World Championships continues as the matter is now headed for arbitration.

BAAAs President Rosamunde Carey addressed the issue yesterday and said an independent committee will investigate the incident and deliver their findings before her organisation takes an official stance.

"The issues that occurred at the World Championships in London have been the topic of discussion for some time now. I am deeply cognizant that at the centre of it, they are our athletes, coaches and ofcourse federation executives. While the federation has yet to issue a report on the subject matter, one is forthcoming," she said.

"I am pleased to convey that a special executive meeting has been called specifically to address that issue, the unanimous decision was made to empower an independent committee. The committee make-up will be of non-executives and non-council members. Their mandate will be to undertake a thorough investigation of the incident and to provide their findings. The executives will take whatever action is deemed appropriate at the conclusion of this investigation."

National 400m record holder and World Championships silver medallist Steven Gardiner opted not to compete in the heats of the 4x400m relay, three days after he won the aforementioned medal.

Without Gardiner, the team of Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu, Ojay Ferguson and Ramon Miller ran a season's best of 3:03.04 seconds that placed them sixth in their heat and 11th overall.

For the second World Championships, the Bahamas failed to get into the final at the meet in between the bronze medal by the team of Russell, Mathieu, Gardiner and Chris 'Fireman' Brown at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Gardiner became the first Bahamian to dip under the 44-second barrier when he lowered his national record to 43.89 to get into the final where he picked up the silver medal in 44.41 behind world record holder Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa.

The decision began a war-of-words as conflicting reports emerged out of London between Gardiner and national team head coach Dianne Woodside-Johnson regarding the reasons behind the decision.

Woodside-Johnson conducted an interview where she disclosed Gardiner's apparent refusal to run in the heats.

He said he informed coaches that he was still recuperating from running the rounds of the 400m and was also recovering from the flu, but claimed none of that was taken into consideration when he was told by Woodside-Johnson that he had to run the heats to ensure that the team got into the final.

"I didn't tell her I wasn't running, I told her that I can only do one round. That's the final. I cannot do two rounds again. She told the media that I said I wasn't running, which was not true," Gardiner told The Tribune in London. "The coaches were there and the team was there when I told her that I would only be able to run the final because I was still sore and tired from running the individual event. I don't know why she is telling people and the media that I said I wasn't representing my country."

Woodside-Johnson responded in an interview with The Tribune once the team returned from the competition.

"I thought it was quite interesting about what he had to say. When I did the interview, I told the athlete that if he had not run in the heat, it was highly unlikely that there would have been a final. The truth was he refused to run in the heat," she said.

While Carey would not disclose the names of the committee members, she gave a timeline of "a few weeks" before results of the committee were produced. "I have had verbal reports from management, from the head coach, and three conversations with Steven Gardiner, but I will allow the process to take place and there will be written reports. We await those results but we definitely know that we must have written policy in black and white to deal with these situations," she said.

"We have asked and I have been told that there was documentation as a part of the former administration. There were many persons who were disciplined without written policy, but we would want to have written policy in place so if there is a challenge to those, there would be no grounds and no basis for it."

Carey added that documentation and a clear understanding of rules and regulations for national team involvement would be a hallmark of her administration and eliminate the common controversies surrounding national teams.

"Once you are selected to a national team, you belong to that national team. You still have access to your personal coach, because that's your personal coach, that's who brought you to where you are, but when you are selected to a national team, you still work with your coach but not to the detriment of the team - meaning that if your head coach or relay coach said you are to be available to run in an event, you ought to make yourself available," she said.

"Personal coaches should not interfere with national team directives to an athlete. Going forward and with all the growing pains that we have had, I want to ensure that there are written policies in place that will be disseminated to athletes and coaches so that everyone will be made aware prior to the next season what the expectation will be for national team members."