By Paul A. Reid, Senior Staff Reporter
Sandie Richards...I was so angry. Right: Lorraine Fenton...national 400m champion. - File
WESTERN BUREAU:
VETERAN JAMAICAN quarter-miler Sandie Richards said she was furious at Lorraine Fenton's walking off the track after losing a shoe at the start of the second leg of the mile relay final at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, in August.
"I was so angry...," the tough-talking former Clarendon College and University of Texas star told The Gleaner recently.
She said Fenton's walking off the track had "violated my rights, those of the other athletes and disappointed the whole country".
If Fenton had started running and decided she could not continue, then that would have been different, but to not try, Richards said, was just not good enough.
Richards said that while she felt the loss herself, as this could have been her final Commonwealth Games, the 33-year-old who has been competing for Jamaica for the past 17 years said she felt it most for the younger Allison Beckford.
There was no chance to talk to Fenton either after the race as Richards said the national champion, who opted out of running the individual event, "locked herself in her hotel room and would not speak to anyone".
Fenton's business manager, Claude Bryan, when contacted by The Gleaner via e-mail, stated: "neither Lorraine or myself are aware of the remarks that Sandie Richards supposedly made but rest assured also that neither Lorraine or myself will contribute anything to what Sandie Richards said or did not say".
After winning the 4x400m gold at the World Championships in Edmonton last year, Richards said expectations were high for another gold medal in Manchester and even a new Games record. "These are the type of things we need to achieve to encourage the younger runners," Richards said.
Richards, who was third in the 400m in Manchester in 51.79 seconds and says she plans on competing for another three years which would carry her through the next Olympic Games and World Championships, said her decision was based on the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA) putting in serious guidelines for the behaviour of its representatives.
It was bad, she said, that there was not an association of athletes to help bridge the gap between them and the JAAA and added that the lone current athlete on the committee, Olympic gold medal winner and 400m hurdles record holder Deon Hemmings, could not do enough from her position.
Richards, whose personal best of 49.7 seconds makes her the third best Jamaican over the distance behind Fenton and Olympic medallist Grace Jackson, said she was looking forward to working closely with the JAAA and would not rule out seeking a place on the executive committee in the future.
Richards, who is vacationing in the island, said she plans to return to her American base soon and will continue working with a sprint coach, who she would not name, except to say it was a non-Jamaican, to help improve her speed over the 200 metres as she hopes to land that elusive individual Olympic medal.
