Mason: "I have wanted to compete for Britain since 2000. - FILE
LONDON (CMC):
BRITAIN'S ATHLETICS performance director, Dave Collins, has included Jamaican-born high jumper Germaine Mason in a list of 38 elite athletes receiving World Class Performance Programme funding.
The 22-year-old Mason, the high jump World Indoor bronze medallist, is looking to switch nationalities and has applied to the British for acceptance.
"They like winners here, and I am a winner," Mason said.
WAITING FOR GO-AHEAD
"The Jamaican federation has wished me well and I am just waiting for the go-ahead from the IAAF," he added.
"I have wanted to compete for Britain since 2000, but I was told I would have to miss the 2003 World Championships and 2004 Olympic Games, and that would have been too much."
Mason, whose mother lives in west London, holds a British passport and is now awaiting approval from the sport's world governing body.
He hopes to gain a response in time for him to contest this summer's European Championships.
AIMING TO WIN GOLD MEDALS
"I want to enhance my track and field career," he said. "I want to win gold medals for the country.
"The European Championships will be my main aim this year, but first I have to win the national championship."
Mason came fifth in the 2003 World Championships in Paris, but suffered a career-threatening knee injury which has limited his appearance over the last couple of years.
His personal best stands at 2.34 metres, just three centimetres short of Britain's outdoor record.
Mason, who is planning to base himself in London, was also crowned as Jamaica's national champion in two of the last six years.
