Brown pulled out 100m sprint

TRINIDAD and Tobago pros-pects of a medal at the current Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, were dealt a harsh blow with the withdrawal of teenage sprinter Darrel Brown from the 100 metres. The junior 100 metres record holder and silver medallist at last year’s World Championships was withdrawn from the race in Athens, for which preliminary heats are scheduled to begin on Saturday. The decision was made following a meeting of the management of the national track and field team at the Olympic Village in the Greek capital yesterday. Brown who pulled up lame at the National Championships here in July, aggravated the injury in a race in the United States just over two weeks ago. And yesterday the 19-year-old Brown was put through a series of excercises, conducted by his personal coach Henri Rolle and supervised by members of TT’s technical team, to assess his physical fitness.

During these exercises, according to chef-de-mission Brian Lewis, Brown explained he was still experiencing some difficulty when he ran, and did not feel he could successfully complete four rounds of competition, especially with more than one round on a given day. But Lewis said, Brown is confident with only two rounds in the relays and with the extra days rest he would have more time to recuperate and be in a better position to give his best to the team and to assist in bringing home a medal. Team manager George Commissiong praised Brown for the manner in which he accepted the decision and his willingness to put country before self. He said: “While many would be disappointed at this decision, a major consideration was Darrel’s age and long-term prospects, since the world junior record holder and silver medallist at last year’s World Championships was young enough to compete in at least two more Olympics.” Quadruple Olympic medallist Ato Boldon will now be Trinidad and Tobago’s main hope in the sprint along with Marc Burns and Nicconnor Alexander. Brown will join this trio for the relay.