St. John’s Antigua: Antigua & Barbuda will have only a three-member team at the London Olympics which is slated for July 27 to August 12 after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) turned down a number of applications for universality spots by Antigua & Barbuda’s National Olympic Committee (NOC) on behalf of a number of unqualified athletes.
Confirmation of this came from the NOC on Thursday which said that requests for boxer Damian Davidson; cyclists Tamiko Butler and Jyme Bridges Jr; male swimmer Orel Jeffery and Althea Charles from the sport of hammer throw had all been denied.
The NOC also revealed that an earlier application for Emily Ward in the sport of equestrian had been withdrawn after they were informed by the IOC that there were no wild card spots available for that discipline.
Ward had, months ago, attained the 65 points necessary for qualification but had since failed to maintain that standard, falling within 1.5 points. Equestrian athletes are required to maintain an average of 65 points going into the Games.
Also, the fact that two male athletes had already qualified for the Games ruled out any possibility of high–jumper James Grayman benefitting from a universality spot.
This means that Antigua & Barbuda will be represented by sprinters Daniel “Bakka” Bailey and Brendon Christian along with Karin Clashing from swimming.
Bailey has qualified for both the 100m and 200m but will only compete in the 100m, while Christian has qualified for the 200m.Reports however indicate that Antigua & Barbuda could still benefit from a single universality spot that is automatically given to one female athlete in the event that no other female qualifies from that particular country.
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