Our Absconding Athletes
IT HAS happened again. In fact, a friend with whom I discuss sports actually told me to expect some of our athletes defecting in New York after the Games.
My earliest recollection of a Guyanese athlete ducking out from returning home after representing his country abroad, is the heavyweight Rodwell Payton who almost won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton in 1978. Then three of our best young boxers en route from the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia eluded the officials to remain in New York in 1982.
This was followed by an almost complete exodus of 14 footballers who were sent to play an Olympic qualifying match in Mexico in 1987. Now two of our amateur boxers, Urchell Chandler and Wesley Christmas who gave his country a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand deserted the team also to remain in the United States of America.
There are usually two sides to an argument. The nationalist will, in rage and disbelief, thoroughly condemn the attitude of the athletes as being extremely unpatriotic. He would add that the athletes were more set on defecting rather than on trying to win for their country at the best they could.
The pragmatist will take an almost antipodal view. He would defend the position that an athlete should think firstly of himself before country or else. How can an athlete with no job with which he can support himself properly not want to live in another society, even illegally. If he is good enough, he has a better chance of reaching the top than remaining at home.
While one does not fully agree with the view of the pragmatist, it does have some merit and athletes have gotten places by using this approach. The question is, how can the sports authorities in Guyana find a solution to this embarrassing and disgusting situation?
I see three approaches to the problem: (1) Since some Guyanese athletes may in the future, follow the example of their predecessors to the embarrassment of their country, the relevant sports authority should suspend attendance at all international sports meetings outside the Caribbean until they feel that the situation is again normal to have full confidence in the athletes. (2) Since boxers and footballers are the culprits, exclude them from Commonwealth and other international games outside of the Caribbean until the climate returns to normal. (3) If the authorities agree that the country’s boxers are the athletes most likely to win medals, include them but make certain that the United States of America is not used intransit to their destination.