Veteran track and field coach Glen Mills has expressed his dissatisfaction with the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and the restrictions imposed on the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) about the number of team officials to be registered for this summer’s Paris Olympic Games.
Mills, the acclaimed coach who coached Usain Bolt to become the greatest sprinter of all time, chastised the JAAA for assigning only 14 slots for team officials during a recent press conference at their office. He stated that this figure is insufficient, considering Jamaica is anticipated to send at least 60 track and field participants to the Games.
Drawing on his experience as Jamaica’s technical director and coach at many Olympic Games, the Racers Track Club’s head coach did not mince words when he discussed the difficulty of managing a large Olympic delegation with minimal support staff.
Mills pointed out in his scathing criticism of the JAAA and JOA that, aside from diver Yona Knight-Wisdom, it is uncertain whether Jamaica will have athletes in any other sports, which he believes strengthens the case for the track and field contingent to be given the respect it deserves.
“I have been to nine Olympics. It is a disgrace that you have to be fighting to get the required number of coaches, the required number of therapists and doctors to go with an Olympic team that is probably rated number two or three in the world. I find it very unfortunate that track and field, and what it represents in the Olympic movement, not just in Jamaica but worldwide, along with Jamaica’s history (has come to this). We are not beggars, we have earned it,” Mills said.
According to Mills, his previous experience as the Jamaican technical director and coach at various international competitions has given him extensive understanding of what it takes to handle an Olympic delegation, and he recommends that 21 officials be allocated, with a minimum of 17 officials.
“I have done at least six or seven Olympics as the technical director and coach, I know what it is to go there and work with so many different athletes and so many responsibilities, so, I cannot see why the number is a problem. How can track and field be struggling to get 17 persons when the minimum based on the requirements should be about 21?” Mills asked.