By Sean Garrity, TrackAlerts.Com Writer
The much talked about absence of double World and Olympic Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce from Team Jamaica’s women 4x100m line-up at the recently concluded World Relays held in Nassau, has finally been addressed by Coach Stephen Francis.
There was much speculation as to why Fraser-Pryce was excluded from the final of the event, with reasons ranging from it was Coach Francis’ doing, because Fraser-Pryce did not run the heats, to Coach Francis just being Coach Francis, and protecting the best interest of his athlete, while Technical Director Maurice Wilson labeled the situation as a miscommunication.
Francis took to the airwaves to speak on his athlete's exclusion. During his interview several things were revealed, with one being, that Fraser-Pryce was not allowed to practise with the relay team. Upon arrival for practice Fraser-Pryce was asked “What are you doing here?”.
It was also revealed that practice times were changed and Fraser-Pryce not notified of such changes. This of course is a shocker seeing that at the World Relays, there are no individual events and she was named as a part of Team Jamaica’s contingent.
Frano as he is affectionately called, also made it clear that he has “no interest in manipulating the team”. He referenced that the USA and many other teams will employ a relays coach who will make all the decisions on the relay pools.
At the 2nd World Relays, Coach Jermaine Shand had such responsibility for Team Jamaica. With popcorn in hand, many fans are awaiting the official word from the JAAA on this matter.
