Support in place for rower Patterson
JAMAICA ROWING Federation (JRF) General Secretary Robert Scott says that financial backing is in place for the administration’s plans going forward. These plans, he said, included the qualifying campaign for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics.
Following the cancellation of the Olympic qualifying event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, national representative Shahiede Patterson was brought back to Jamaica from his base in Texas, where he had been training for the event since January. The Tokyo Olympics were subsequently pushed back to July 2021 in March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic which now has infected over 2.5 million people worldwide.
FOCUS ON TOKYO
Scott said that the federation, following the Games’postponement, has managed to restructure its strategy for Patterson with the help of coach John Parker as well as continued backing from the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) and the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA).
“The focus remains on Tokyo. We have continued the engagement. Our international coach [Parker] believes that the additional time would be to our advantage, and we know that we have the continued support of the SDF and the JOA for our 2020 efforts which would lead over into 2021,” Scott told The Gleaner. “The important thing is that we have refocused and recalibrated our programme. We have engaged our coach and we have identified financial resources that will help to take us further. So we are in a good place.”
Patterson, according to Scott, is in good health since returning to the island and has not lost motivation in seeking the country’s first -ever Olympic berth in rowing. While Scott remains undecided on whether Patterson would embark on another training camp before the rescheduled qualifying event, he believes that the extra year of preparation would give him additional experience, which would benefit him when he finally competes.
“Primarily, I am looking at the opportunity for the maturity of the athlete. He should have another year under his belt to train. And one of the things about Mr Patterson is that he is highly self-motivated and driven. So he has his eye on the prize. So whatever challenges come up, we would just work around it,” he said. “The important thing is that he is back, he is healthy, and he is motivated. And he has the full support of the JRF.”