BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CONTENTION between sprint veteran Kim Collins and track and field officials in St. Kitts and Nevis began heating up again with the latter claiming that recent comments made by Collins are untruthful.
In an interview with Sportsmax Zone on Wednesday (Jul. 23) Collins, claimed that for months he had been reaching out to St. Kitts-Nevis Amateur Athletic Association (SKNAAA) officials to no avail and stated that he sees no hope of reconciliation and only one member of the SKNAAA had congratulated him on his recent national record achievement.
“One of the members of the Federation (SKNAAA), he sent congratulations but I actually tried to reach out to them for months and it does not seem like there is any chance of reconciliation in sight so I just put that behind me.”
However in speaking with this publication, Public Relations Officer of the SKNAAA Evris Huggins claimed that Collins’ statements are false and that they – the SKNAAA - were the ones who reached out to Collins many times without a response from the athlete.
He also disclosed that Collins was to be part of the St. Kitts-Nevis delegation to travel to the World Relays but failed to confirm his availability. He also revealed that many other correspondence to Collins had been unanswered.
Huggins informed that a congratulatory message and video of Kim Collins’ race was posted on the SKNAAA’s Facebook page.
The message along with the video was indeed posted on their facebook page on July 21. The message read, “Congratulations is order to Kim Collins for an outstanding performance at the Sainsbury's Anniversary Games.”
The saga between the sprint king and the SKNAAA started in 2012 when Collins was not allowed to compete at the London Olympics in 2012 after he allegedly went “missing” for a number of days while visiting a hotel in which his wife was staying.
Consequently, he vowed to never again represent the country of his birth.
In a BBC interview earlier this year, Collins stated that his fans had persuaded him to have a change of heart and he was hoping to be a part of the Federation’s Commonwealth team travelling to Glasgow later this year.
However, despite declaring an interest to represent St. Kitts and Nevis once again, Collins was a no-show at the 2014 National Invitational and Club Championship even after he was specially invited by the SKNAAA.
In order to be considered for a national representative team selected by the SKNAAA, athletes must participate at the National Invitational and Club Championships unless given a special wavier.
