Morgan has no automatic place says Blake

Photo: Jason Morgan was surprsingly excluded from the Jamaican Olympic Games team.

The non-inclusion of discus thrower, Jason Morgan on the Jamaican Olympic team to the games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next month, left most people in shock when the full team was announced at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel on Monday.

Eyebrows were raised by most members of the media, which created a scramble for answers from the President of the Jamaica Administrative Athletics Association (JAAA) Dr. Warren Blake at the end of the formal announcements.

A blunt Blake gave this initial response: “It was the wisdom of the selection committee not to put him in, (the team) even though he has the qualifying distance because Jason’s history is that he only throws the qualifying distance at one meet and he never repeats and he never even comes within the zone.”

Morgan had secured the Olympic qualifying standard from as early as June 2015 when he threw the National record of 68.19m at the Peak Performance Classics.

With only Fedrick Dacres obtaining the qualifying standard alongside Morgan at the completion of the National Senior Championships, it was expected by most that the 33 year old would be named on the team despite finishing fourth, but Blake made it clear that this would not be so.

“Morgan didn’t come within the top three so he has no automatic place on the team.”

The former Calabar High school athlete threw 63.11m March and had a 62 meters throw in April before getting hurt, but has recovered since then and was very hopeful of doing well in Rio.

The chances of him getting an opportunity to throw in what would almost certainly be his final Olympic Games seems dashed however, based on the utterances of the JAAA President.

“There is a question about (the credibility of this meet). He throws long distances at this meet, year in year out and he never repeats himself, never even comes close at any other meet and if you look at his history this can be substantiated.”

While Morgan remains hopeful and continues to train, it may take strong lobbying to get his name on the team sheet before the final selections have to be submitted to the Olympic organizing committee.