That Paul Wright lynch mob

 By Orville Higgins

Any survey done on the most disliked Jamaicans at this point in time would surely feature Dr Paul Wright and Renée Anne Shirley. These two have made utterances about JADCO in recent times that have not endeared them to Jamaicans, and Dr Wright, especially, is getting a walloping from the public.

I know I will be accused of taking up for a colleague here, so let me just set the record straight. I disagree with Dr Paul on a number of issues. I don't want to waste time listing them here, but for those who listen to my show on KLAS ESPN Radio, they will know that Dr Paul and I rarely agree on ANYTHING.

This time, however, I am forced to come to his defence. The minister with responsibility for sports, Natalie Neita-Headley, has suggested that Dr Wright may well have breached his contract with JADCO by his public utterances. To the extent that that is true, I can't condone that. A contract must be respected, and I couldn't support the goodly Dr Wright for signing to one thing and practising another.

I must stress, though, that up to this point, Dr Wright hasn't yet commented on that, and therefore I reserve judgment.

So let's look at what Dr Wright actually said in that now-infamous interview with the BBC. "The results are not good. This year alone, the results really point the finger. Remember, all of these results, except one, were caught by JADCO. The problem is these people were tested positive in competition. What that means is that months before you know the date of the test and the approximate time of the test.

"So if you fail an out-of-competition test, you have also failed an IQ test. This could be the tip of the iceberg to have so many positives coming in competition. What is going to convince me is if there is an out-of-competition test that's unannounced, that includes blood testing, and which tests for EPO. Then we can hold up our heads high and say we know there's nothing."

What is so wrong with that? For what is this man being pilloried? Let us face the hard, cold facts. In the last few years, several Jamaican sports personalities, most of them track-and-field athletes, have been implicated in one way or other with banned substances.

'caught' in competition

One source told me that up to 23 Jamaicans have had issues related to banned substances in the last five years, and some of those include some of our biggest names. Most of those would have been 'caught' in competition.

Those among us who pretend that this should not be a concern are being naïve or disingenuous. The irony is that most Jamaicans accept that we have corrupt politicians, corrupt police, corrupt public officials, and yet these same people would scoff at the very idea that there are Jamaican athletes who are corrupt, who would deliberately cheat, or who are not careful enough with the stimulants they take! Isn't that, in and of itself, a most illogical position to take?

Dr Wright is merely suggesting that if so many people are being 'caught' WHEN THEY KNOW THEY WILL BE TESTED, what could the number really be if we test when it is least expected? It's a reasonable question.

Maybe the actual numbers that are being caught COULD really be the tip of the iceberg. The use of the word COULD protects Dr Wright from any accusations of deliberately trying to cast any aspersions.

The man is merely saying that it may look bad now when we are catching people left right and centre when they are tested in competition, but it COULD be worse if we test when the athletes don't know when the testers are coming, or if more out-of-competition testing is done. Isn't that a reasonable conclusion to draw?

Granted, I don't support Dr Wright all the way through on this. He wants 'unannounced' testing, where the testers can turn up on an athlete even outside of the one-hour whereabouts window which the athletes must provide.

I can't go with him on that at all. I believe the athletes' privacy must be respected, and outside of the designated hour, he or she shouldn't be forced to be subjected to any drug tester. But outside of that, and outside of any possible breach of contract, Dr Wright has said nothing wrong. We need to leave the man alone!

Orville Higgins is a sports journalist and talk-show host. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

The irony is that most Jamaicans accept that we have corrupt politicians, corrupt police, corrupt public officials, and yet these same people would scoff at the very idea that there are Jamaican athletes who are corrupt.