CLEOPATRA BOREL, the veteran national shot-put queen, has replaced Trevor James as the public relations officer (PRO) of the National Association of Athletics Administration (NAAA) while Trinidad and Tobago long jump record holder Wendell Williams is one of the trustees of the NAAA, taking the spot left vacated by Paul Voisin.
The local track and field governing body held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Capital Plaza (formerly Crowne Plaza Hotel), Port-of-Spain, yesterday.
And Ephraim Serrette, NAAA president, explained in an interview at Capital Plaza, “(Borel is) competing but having her incorporating the athletes and getting them to prepare for life after track and field, she would have first-hand information.
“You’ll always want to have people coming out of the sport who would have experienced it to bring something other than just knowledge of administration but the life of an athlete,” he added.
The 33-year-old Borel is the 2011 TT Sportswoman of the Year and three-time Olympian while the 44-year-old Williams was a bronze medallist at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“(He is) the national record holder for the long jump,” said Serrette. “He’s a soldier and he’s one of the coaches in our national jumps programme.”
Concerning yesterday’s meeting, Serrette stated, “we also (presented) audited statements for the financial year and I’m always proud to present that because coming out of a financial year ending in September, and to produce audited statements ending in November, it’s difficult but I always try to make sure.
“Where funding is concerned, you’ll want to make sure that your general council and everybody sees what’s happening with your funds and what you’re doing,” he continued. “We have moved in a particular direction. Once information is produced and submitted to the general council, it makes the meeting much more manageable.”
Asked about the 2012 track and field season, Serrette responded, “we had an exceptionally great year where track and field is concerned. We had our best Olympics ever (with) four medals.
“It just augurs well for the sport and I expect that in 2013, we’ll have more people participating in the sport of track and field.”
But he was guarded when asked about the Semoy Hackett drug-testing controversy.
“We haven’t made any release because all we have is information that was on the school’s (Louisiana State University) website.” he said. “We have written to the school and this was a suspension under the NCAA. We have since contacted the IAAF to see what are the consequences. We’re still awaiting that.”
For 2013, the NAAA’s focus will be on a number of meets, including the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia; the World Youth Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine; the Pan Am Junior Championships in Lima, Peru and the CARIFTA Games in the Bahamas.
By Joel Bailey
Source: www.newsday.co.tt