RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – News out of the Jamaican camp at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, is that athletes on medical exemption from the June/July trials, will be given a series of tests to prove that they are healthy to compete.
These will be conducted by the medical team on spot for a decision to be made by Monday, August 8. Competition in the Athletics discipline, will begin on Friday of that week. According to the release, the panel of coaches assigned to the contingent, will do its own assessment on the track, prior to the final verdict.
The athletes who applied for exemptions, allowing them to miss the entire or a part of the trials action, are Usain Bolt (100m, 200m), Janieve Russell (400 m Hurdles), Elaine Thompson (200m), and Hansle Parchment (110m hurdles). Bolt was thought to have proven his shape and fitness with 19.89 in the 200m at London DL. Parchment clocked 13.53 at the meet in Ninove, Belgium. Russell has not competed since June 12 and Thompson since July 2, when she ran the 200m heats at Jamaican Trials.
The third-placed finishers at the national trials, Kaliese Spencer (400m hurdles), Kali Davis-White (200m) and Andrew Riley (110m hurdles), remain on standby to compete, should any of the previously named, fail to meet the fitness standards required
Bull **** there should be a time trial