Volume No. 2 Issue No. 48 - Monday July 28, 2008
Local coach peeved over Romain’s selection
Jerome Romain who was a finalist in the Atlanta Olympics is Dominica's coach to the Bejing olympics.
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Local athletics coach Emmanuel Loblack is peeved over the selection of United States-based Jerome Romain as the coach of Dominica’s team for the Beijing Olympics next month.
Earlier this month, a release from the Dominica Amateur Athletics Association (DAAA) stated that Romain had been appointed as the coach of the team to accompany athletes Ericson Hurtault and Chris Lloyd to Beijing.
However, Loblack, who is the president of the Olympians Athletics Club, said a local coach should have been favoured over Romain to travel with the team to the Olympics.
“We are the ones who are keeping the sport alive on the island,” Loblack said.
“We are the ones who are working consistently with the athletes, just to see them improve. Why should the local authorities abandon the local coaches, who have made a significant contribution to the development of athletics for someone who has turned his back on us?” Loblack inquired.
Romain, who was born in the French Caribbean island of St. Martin, competed successfully for Dominica during the 1990s but switched allegiance to France in 1999.
According to Loblack, Romain turned his back on Dominica when he opted to represent France.
“Here it is that we have somebody as part of our team, who has no regard for us. He refused to run for Dominica and instead chose to represent France. What is his contribution to athletics on the island? Has he conducted any training sessions so as to improve the skills and techniques of our athletes? Has he assisted athletes in one way or the other? What has he done? Really, it is very unfair that he was selected over some of our local athletes,” said Loblack, who is also a national sports officer.
Currently, the assistant track and field coach at Brown’s University in the United States, Romain represented Dominica in the triple jump at the Centennial Games in Atlanta in 1996 where he made it to the finals in the triple jump. However, a knee injury sidelined Romain, and he could not compete in the finals.
At Brown, Romain is in charge of the jumps and also works closely with the multi-athletes. "It is definitely an honor to be chosen as the coach for Dominica," he said. "But what is even more special and so humbling is that twelve years after competing in the Olympic Games for my home country, I am now heading back to the Olympics to coach."
and is the country’s most decorated competitor in international track and field competition.
In 1996, he was ranked number three in the world in the ttripple jump event. He won a triple jump bronze medal at the 1995 World Championship in Gothenburg after capturing silver in the event at the 1995 Pan American Games in Argentina. Romain was one of the top triple jumpers in the World between 1995-2000. Although he misses competing, he enjoys working with the athletes at Brown, and around the World.
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