Rawle Welch replies to Yassin’s accusations

Sep 18, 2016 Letters

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Dear Editor,
Mr. K. Juman Yassin in his response to an article that I had written earlier questioning his stewardship of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) once again displayed his ability to misinform this nation by his attempt to render Guyana Defence Force Javelin thrower, Leslain Baird as the subject of my evaluation.
The palpable try by the GOA Head was noticeable for all to see since more than 70% of his angry reply was focused on attempting to sidetrack the substantive issue which was clearly about his poor leadership of the Association that after two decades and more has yielded nothing of consequence.
Instead of addressing his undesirable performance the learned former Chief Magistrate / Sports Administrator inexplicably or perhaps deliberately sought to promote Baird as the theme of our exchange.
In my earlier missive, Baird’s mention was only to lay emphasis on Yassin’s poor understanding in the study of Sport and nothing more.
Any person who understands Sport, especially athletics would know that athletes’ improvement over long periods of intense training is usually marginal.
Just to give an example, a sprinter the caliber of St. Kitts & Nevis, Kim Collins, a World Championships gold medalist who has been around for as long as Yassin, dipped under 10 seconds no more than six times in his entire career. There is no disrespect to Baird, as Yassin sought to signify, in me giving the readers a true perspective of how difficult it would be for him to move from his national record of 67. 60 metres to the standard 80-85 metres at age 29. His age is two years shy of what the great Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt intends to retire at following next year’s World Championships in London.
I further explained that the GOA should seek a coaching stint for him instead of believing that he could make up that 20-plus metres needed to be a contender on the world stage. Contrary to Yassin’s belief that I had disrespected Baird I do not have to convince him that I’m a consistent advocate for athletes’ development and my track record of persistent articles could attest to this despite not being in an administrative position to practically do so.
Every discipline that I cover I always seek to inject advice to the relevant stakeholders with the GOA being one of the recipient of such goodwill. I have been sought on no less than two to three occasions to make presentations with the last one being on the subject of Performance Enhancing Drugs Use by athletes.
My good friend Garfield Wiltshire, whom I’ve known for close to forty (40) years and who sits on the GOA executive usually contacts me to solicit my assistance whenever they conduct workshops, so my advice to Yassin is to check the records to ascertain my input in Sports Development.
Additionally, Yassin and I occasionally engage in conversations about sports development after press conferences that I would cover, so here once again is his deceit. I have much to offer and I do so in my interaction with many local sports administrators, athletes and colleagues in the media. This fact is easy to verify and I challenge Yassin to know more about sports and its development in most disciplines than me. It’s my work and I take it seriously.
On the subject of me just finding things to write about for fear of losing my job I must remind the GOA Boss that I do write for a living, but my whole existence is in the Lord’s will and no man.
I’ve lived my life on this principle and will die thinking this way. I’m never scared to lose a job, but thankfully I work for a publisher who understands the business very well and gives us the scope to hold persons like Yassin accountable.
I have carefully studied Yassin’s response and conclude that his latest effort to evade my examination of his lingering tenure in office is another act of deception. On the subject of me writing the same facts every four years and going into hibernation after, which is totally untrue, Yassin should take no delight in making such an erroneous statement, but rather see it as an indictment on his performance.
Why is he continuously presenting me with the opportunity to highlight his uselessness in office? I guess only he knows the answer.
I’m usually a reserved human being content on sharing my expertise with anyone seeking such, but I’m compelled to let Yassin know that I’m the recipient of three national sports awards, during a period that I was forthright in calling out Sports Ministers and the Director of Sport for their inept governance so I must have excelled in my job, but could Yassin speak of such excellence in his administrative endeavour after so many years. I doubt it; let December be D- (DISMISSAL) Day for Yassin and his Establishment.
Rawle Welch

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