Athletic Association is Criticized by Ineligible Olympic Runners

Belizean/American track and field athlete Kenneth Medwood claims to have been snubbed from participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics because the Belize Athletic Association reportedly failed to include him on a list of athletes representing Belize.   According to Medwood, there had been little communication from the BAA regarding his status as a member of the team.  Notwithstanding correspondences from his coach, Medwood told News Five this afternoon that the BAA bungled the selection process by choosing athletes with lower ranking.

Kenneth Medwood

Kenneth Medwood, Athlete

“Belize has selected two athletes that are actually not the top athletes.  Qualifications for the games occur in two ways, you can hit the Olympic standard or you can be granted the wild card.  So the top female and the top male, respectively, in the sport of track and field.  The top female would be Kaina Martinez and the top male would be myself.  The two individuals that were selected are not the top but I don’t know exactly what transpired behind closed doors but essentially this entire season the BAA has not reached out and gotten in contact with me, whereas my coach has actually reached out to them, gave them my information on my progress and I’ve respectively been number one in Central America the entire season.  No one has surpassed my mark as of yet and yet another individual was selected.  Aside from that I was denied entry into the Central American Championships because the BAA did not respect for me to go although when I contacted them on the thirty-first of May they stated that they had requested for me but unfortunately,  what really happened was that they didn’t select or choose me and then once I emailed them they waited for…  I don’t know what transpired but they waited and when they notified the NOC, the NOC then notified them that he wasn’t on the initial list although they stated that I was on the initial list and because I wasn‘t on the initial list budgets were set up differently.  So based on the budget I wasn’t allowed to go.  But it was basically the BAA’s fault as to why I didn’t go.”