Steele to stay with Racers

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Jamaican 400m athlete Edino Steele has confirmed that he will remain with the Racers Track Club following the recent resignation of the club's senior 400m coach, Bertland Cameron.

Steele, who was a reserve member on Jamaica's 4x400m relay team at the recent Olympic Games in London, joined Racers two years ago, like Cameron, but expressed in a release yesterday that he was hoping to put to rest several rumours about his future.

A member of Jamaica's silver medal-winning mile relay team at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, Steele pointed out that he is looking forward to working with Racers Track Club president and head coach Glen Mills, who has taken over the club's 400m programme since Cameron's departure.

Mills had worked with Olympic finalist Rosemarie Whyte throughout the past season, and Steele said he is confident in the noted sprint coach's ability with the 400m.

Future uncertain

The departure of Cameron has cast a shadow over the future of the club's 400m corps, including national record holder Jermaine Gonzales, who has worked closely with the former St Jago and Wolmer's Boys' School coach since his arrival at the club.

The 2008 and 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships participant also expressed disappointment at not being given the opportunity to represent the country at the recent Olympic Games.

"There were a lot of rumours I was hearing in regards to the push for other less-fit runners to fulfil the obligation (4x400m relay), but with my heart and strength I am certain I would not have let my country down," Steele noted.

Steele, who finished fifth at the Jamaica Athletics Administra-tive Association/Supreme Ven-tures Limited National Senior Championships - the country's Olympic trials - had to watch from the sidelines as sixth-place finisher Riker Hylton and an apparently injured Jermaine Gonzales were preferred for the 4x400m heats at the London Olympics.

Gonzales would later pull up on his second leg, eliminating the Jamaicans, who were expected to challenge for a medal.