By Kiev Chesney
“I want to state very clearly that Joe Ryan has been appointed and accredited as the coach for the track and field team for the Beijing Olympics,” President of Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) K.A Juman Yassin said yesterday at a press conference at Olympic House.
An article published in the Kaieteur News was critical of the both the AAG and the GOA for selecting Ryan, who is Allian Pompey’s coach and the Assistant Coach at Manhattan College, in the USA.
However, president of the AAG, Claude Blackmore had told Stabroek Sport that he had no knowledge of Ryan’s appointment.
Blackmore had told Stabroek Sport in an invited comment that the AAG had not appointed anyone other than Cornel Rose, who will be general manager of the Guyana contingent to Beijing.
“That appointment of Mr. Ryan was no secret; that appointment was endorsed on the 21st April 2008 by the executive committee of the GOA, and at the latter meeting the following week, it was on 29th, April it was brought to the council of the associations of those association which comprises the Guyana Olympic Association,” he said.
Juman-Yassin said too that none of the associations had objected to the decision when it was brought before the council at the customary month-end meeting at the GOA.
The GOA president reminded members of the media at the press conference that he had publicly announced Ryan’s appointment to a few members of the media last month during a press conference where the Kaieteur News had not been represented.
“I want to categorically state at this time that this is no backdoor selection process,” Juman Yassin said, adding that, “In the 2004 Olympics the coach for Marian Burnett, Mr. [Mark] Elliott was appointed and accredited to participate and he went. A request was made at the same time also for Mr. Ryan but Mr. Elliot was selected.
“We decided at this time that Mr. Joe Ryan would be selected,” he said.
Juman Yassin said that Ryan has been Pompey’s coach since she began her career overseas which led her to winning a gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
He also said that Ryan’s selection was a way of showing appreciation to the coach by the GOA for him sticking by the side of Pompey over the years.
Juman Yassin pointed out that “When a top athlete goes to a competition, would not that top athlete be better served by if he or she has the coach who knows that athlete, who has been coaching them and who is at the highest level to be coaching that athlete.
“I feel that it would be in the best interest of that athlete, so without any apologies we have appointed Mr. Joe Ryan to be the coach,” Juman Yassin said.
Juman Yassin also justified Ryan’s selection by recalling instances over the past decade when overseas-based athletes had been accompanied by their coaches.
He also said that Pompey had encountered some problems when she was accompanied by the then Chief Coach of the AAG Elton Smith when she attended the Central American and Caribbean Championship (CAC) in 2006.
