BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE LONDON 2012 Olympics Games are over, and while the event had brought glorious moments for some countries within the Caribbean region, the same cannot be said for St. Kitts and Nevis which came under the international media’s spotlight over two incidents involving Kim Collins and Tameka Williams.
The first incident occurred when it was made known by the Federation’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) that Williams, some 24 hours after taking part in the prestigious Opening Ceremony, would not be participating at the London Olympics and was being sent home because she admitted to using a substance that falls outside the internationally accepted Medical Code.
Approximately one week later, news reached the Federation that its most prominent athlete, Kim Collins, was no longer a member of Team St. Kitts-Nevis because his accreditation to enter the Olympic Village was withdrawn by the management of the team.
In a statement to reporters in London, NOC’s General Secretary Alphonso Bridgewater told reporters, “The NOC of St. Kitts and Nevis has not seen or heard from Kim Collins for the last three days. We are unaware of his whereabouts.”
Many statements followed this one, some from Collins and also one by his wife, as well as a press release from the NOC in an attempt to clarify its position on the athlete’s departure from the team.
At his last Monthly Press Conference (Aug. 29), Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas addressed the situation and noted that the local media had carried articles saying that the athletes had boycotted a function he held at the Office of the High Commission in London; an event which he attended but played no part in organising it.
“There seem to have been a notion in the country that the Prime Minister had a function on that Saturday, the same Saturday when the young lady was sent home, and the athletes boycotted the function. I didn’t have any function…just want to make it clear. I didn’t want to get into the fray then, but now the ‘hay-hay high-high’ has gone I think I can comment on these things.
“The people of St. Kitts and Nevis who are living in the United Kingdom had been so pleased and happy that St. Kitts and Nevis was adequately represented at the Olympics that for months and weeks they had been planning to come together at the High Commission Office in London to have a function to celebrate the presence of the athletes.
“I also would have been there and the management team and the officials for the Olympics Team, and so we were invited. I was invited, they were invited and the people had cooked up a storm, cooked all kinds of dishes. They had masquerade, they had all kinds of cultural activities to demonstrate how pleased they were to have the athletes from home at the London Olympics. They were the ones who were disappointed, not me. I went there and had a good time. I went, but the athletes were missing in action. But I had a good time and it was not my function at all.”
PM Douglas advised media operatives present at the conference that it is important for them to check with his Press Secretary for confirmation on matters such as that before going public.
“That is why it is important for guys to check…at least ask my Press Secretary before things like these go to the media because that was not true at all. I sent back something home and I said, ‘You know what…Kim, no comment.’”
He however gave a detailed explanation of his involvement with the team while in London.
“The Thursday was the day that I was again invited to the Village to visit and speak with the team and to give them some motivation. The same time the Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Dr. Kenny Anthony, was going to visit, so we decide we will visit around the same time and he would speak to our athletes as the Chairman of CARICOM.
“So I went and told the residents, spoke with them, gave them a little pep talk here and there and then we sat down to have lunch together. And then Kenny spoke with them and then we had a tour of the entire Village. I was not in any way troubled, I noticed that Kim was not there at that time and I did enquire and they told me that his wife had come in and so he was with his wife. And nobody had made a big thing out of that because they had given him permission to be off with his wife.
“Again, I wasn’t angry, it wasn’t anything to me. I did what I had to do…I was invited, I went and they told me that his wife had come in…must be a day or two and he was with his wife. So, that was it. Poor me ain’t had nothing to do with that whatsoever!”
Dr. Douglas further explained that he had only learnt of Williams’ situation on the day that she was sent home.
“When the young lady was sent home, the Saturday I learnt of this. I knew that there was something happening but I was not completely certain as to what action was going to be taken, because I was told that something was happening.”
He noted that his first serious thinking on the matter was when he received a text message from Cherylann Pemberton of the Citizenship Investment Unit asking what was happening in London.
“That is when I realised that this thing had reached St. Kitts and that it was turning out to be something different from what may be well anticipated. And so I began to give serious thinking as to how, maybe, this should be handled, but it has already happened.”
PM Douglas gave an in-depth explanation of what he knew transpired on the day that the NOC officials had withdrawn Collins’ accreditation.
“The Saturday morning I was on my way to look at the heats, I had not checked my cell phone for the morning to read emails etc. until I was in the vehicle to go. And then I saw the email that was informing me that Kim has been withdrawn. I said wow.”
He said he was told that the Heats would have started at 10:00 a.m. on that day and that the Federation’s athletes competing in the 100m event would have been competing from 12:30 p.m.
“I was on my way there and I said, ‘You know what, let me try and see if I can reach Kim.’ And I emailed him…that must have been then about 11-11:30. And in a matter of minutes he responded. And my email to him was, ‘Kim there seems to be an impasse between you and the Olympic Committee. Can’t we put this behind us and settle this when we get home, we are here to run let us do it for the glory of the country, the glory of the sport for your own advancement?’
“And he responded, something like…‘boss is really an impasse’. Then he told me one or two things about the Saturday, what I interpreted to have been the Saturday situation. And then he said he was outside of the Village and I emailed him back. I didn’t have his number, I had his email address and so I said, ‘Well, can’t you run still, can’t we do something at this moment?’ And he said, ‘Boss they already pulled me.’ So, there was nothing that I could have done.
“I said that because I felt that it was going to have serious implications as it is playing out now. There is now anger, a lot of things being said and it’s really a pity that these situations had not really been settled before.”
When asked for his views on what played out at the end of the situation and what lessons could the nation learn from it, Dr. Douglas spoke about rules, guidelines and responsibilities.
“When we go out there to represent our country, we must remember there is a responsibility that we have. And that goes for not only the athletes; it goes as well for the management team and the officials. There are rules and regulations and guidelines, and these must be adhered to. You have the right to challenge them, but up there on the field of play is not the place, in my opinion, to challenge them. Get these things out of the way before we go out there to wash our dirty linins in the whole of London and the world. That was not good! And I believe that there are serious lessons that we have learnt from this.
“One thing that I need to say is that the association, Triple A and the NOC are independent organisations. I was not even certain if I had tried to intervene I would have been doing the right thing, and that is why I think protocols need to be established. One of the lessons that we should learn from this experience is to what extent can finality of action resides only within the organisation, or whether there can be some national governmental ministerial input; because these are protocols which have not been established, except that we, the government, allow the organisations to operate independently. I believe that at the end of the day we have been in the media spotlight, but not in the way we wanted to be in the media spotlight.”
Today, the 2012 London Olympics debacle still persists and many people are calling for an independent inquiry, for there are many unanswered questions.
