President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (GASA), Dwayne Scott said yesterday that the body will conform with the wishes of the International Swimming Federation (FINA) as it relates to which female swimmer will represent Guyana at the Tokyo Olympics.
Initially, Jamila Sanmoogan and Andrew Fowler were named as beneficiaries of the two Universality (wild card) spots for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics which will be held in Japan next month.
However, according to a news report in another section of the media, Sanmoogan has been replaced by Aleka Persaud and, to compound matters, the swimmer said she learnt of this devastating news via the media.
“Unfortunately, I was informed by the news media rather than by our club. GASA has not yet informed the club of their decision,” said Sanmoogan, when contacted by the Kaieteur News.
“I am a bit disappointed but GASA knows best; my congratulations to the athlete that was selected,” she added.
Contacted yesterday for a comment on the issue Scott said: “So we received information from FINA and we understand their position and it’s our intention that we do right by the athletes first and that is why we make it our effort to comply with what FINA wishes are.”
“We do understand that one athlete may be disenfranchised, we do understand the physiological factor that could come into play where this is concerned but at the end of it all GASA will do right by all the athletes and we will deliver whatever we committed to them as best as we can,” Scott added.
In a letter to GASA dated April 14, 2021, FINA selected Sanmoogan and Andrew Fowler to fill the universality spots.
However, in a subsequent letter two weeks later, FINA pointed out that the highest ranked men and women athletes could be entered in one individual event based on FINA points table 2021.
“In practical terms, this means that the previous suggestion of athletes invited by FINA to fill Universality places can be modified if the swimmers that took part at the 2019 FINA World Championships in Gwangju (KOR) are currently not the highest ranked in your country in according to the above-mentioned FINA Points Table,” the letter stated.
“Moreover, in consultation with FINA, an NOC/NF may enter the second highest ranked athlete for exceptional reasons, including retirement, medical injury, or doping violation of the first ranked athlete,” the letter added.
“It is our goal to ensure that the highest ranked male and highest ranked female swimmer for each participating NOC/NF is invited to take part in the Swimming competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games,” the letter highlighted.
While no official word has come from GASA confirming which of the two will take up the universality spot, according to the FINA rankings, Persaud leads the way with 593 points and a time of 28.17 which was clocked in Puerto Rico last month while Sanmoogan, who represented Guyana at the 2016 Olympics, sits on 580 points with a timing of 28.45 obtained back in 2017.
By virtue of these timings and the expectation of FINA to have the fastest athlete at the event, a source related to this publication that a letter from GASA was written to Persaud’s club seeking her approval to go to the Olympics.
The source said there has been no response as yet.
“It is an unfortunate situation to be dealing with this at this point, we felt that we did all the right things as we went about making our selection at the time of the selection discussions there were no such information available to GASA and as such we could not have acted on it. Now that we have this information we have to go back to the drawing board and address it from that perspective but we will do our best to ensure everything that we do is fair and just for the athletes and in keeping with the rules from FINA,” said Scott.
“At the council level we understand the importance and significance of the FINA system and I think we can we can say it is a unanimous decision by every member of council that we respect it in every way possible in the interest of swimming in Guyana,” Scott ended.
