COACH BEATEN BY ATHLETES

ATHLETICS administrator and coach Trevor “TC” Campbell was assaulted by three junior athletes during the second day’s staging of the National Senior and Junior Athletic Championship at the National Stadium Friday evening.

However, no criminal action has been pursued so far by the victim, a police source told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

Campbell — the former Kingston College top athlete and footballer who never lost a race at Boys’ Championship when he competed during the late 1960s and early 1970s — was hit by the three athletes, two of them said to be enrolled at Jamaica College, and who were registered to compete in the junior division of the championship.

Campbell, who is one of the officials based in the call room at the championship, was said to have been criticised by one of the athletes after Campbell insisted that he should remove certain objects from his body before he could go on the track, based on meet and international requirements.

One of the athletes turned up late for his race and allegedly verbally threatened to get back at Campbell, a source said, for insisting that he remove the items, which he suggested caused him to be late for the race.

Campbell was later attacked on the grounds of the sports facility by the three boys, two of whom the Sunday Observer was told are known Jamaica College boys, one of whom is regarded as a sprinter of merit and promise.

He was said to be hit with a piece of iron by one of the boys and fell to the ground when he took on one of them in a wrestling-like match to defend himself.

There was no response from Campbell yesterday and efforts to reach President of the JAAA Dr Warren Blake and the organisation’s General Secretary Garth Gayle were unsuccessful.

When the Sunday Observer checked with the National Stadium Police yesterday, an officer on duty said she was not aware of the incident and that no official report had been filed at the station.

However, head of the St Andrew Central Police, under which the Stadium Police falls, Senior Superintendent Jacqueline Green told the Sunday Observer that the matter of an incident in which Campbell was assaulted was brought to her attention, but no official report had been made to the police. She said she further understood that the matter was being dealt with as an internal one by the JAAA.

Initial reports are that many challenges have faced organisers at the National Championships which ends today. Outspoken athletics coach Stephen Francis has publicly critical of the running of this year’s championship.

Several false starts dogged Friday night’s events, in particular the 100 metres in which Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce false started but was given a warning and allowed to run; Yohan Blake also false-started, was given a warning first time, but false started again and was ejected from the race. He, however, opted to run the race under protest.