Black Immigrant Daily News

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World Athletics, track and field’s governing body, announced on Friday that three medals will be relocated following an investigation into age manipulation of athletes up to 20 years ago.

Jamaica’s Richard Phillips will be among the athletes to benefit.

Phillips, now 39, will be promoted from fourth to bronze in the boys’ 110m hurdles from the 2002 World Junior Championships, which was held in Kingston, Jamaica after Chinese athlete Shi Dongpeng was stripped of his silver medal.

Phillips had clocked 13.90 seconds for his fourth-place finish.

Shamar Sands of The Bahamas, who won bronze in 13.58 will have his medal upgraded to silver. Antwon Hicks of the USA won the event in 13.42 to become the first American to win the gold medal.

Shi went on to compete at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics but did not reach either final in his event.

Saudi Arabian long jumper Ahmed Al-Sharfa was stripped of a bronze medal from the 2003 World Youth Championships in Sherbrooke, Canada.

The country’s men’s medley relay team was also disqualified from the 2005 World Youth Championships.

Andrejs Maskancevs of Latvia will be promoted from fourth to bronze in the boy’s long jump from the 2003 World Youth Championships.

Naohiro Shinada won the gold medal then with an effort of 7.61m and France’s Yves Renaud, the silver with 7.44m.

South Africa will be promoted from fourth to bronze in the boys’ medley relays after Saudi Arabia was stripped of the bronze medal.

USA won the gold and Trinidad and Tobago, the silver.

World Athletics also acted Friday against suspected systematic cheating in qualifying events for the Tokyo Olympics.

World Athletics said seven of its national members agreed to be on a “manipulation watch list” and results from lower-level meets in those countries will not now be accepted. The countries on the list are Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkey, Uzbekistan.

The move follows an investigation of “17 reports of suspicious competition results” at events to get qualifying standards for last year’s Olympics, World Athletics said.

“The integrity of our sport is our highest priority at World Athletics,” federation president Sebastian Coe said in a statement. “Without it, we don’t have a sport.”

World Athletics said the federations identified as risks were cooperating and individual officials were not under suspicion.

Countries sending larger teams to the Olympics can also send more officials and be in line for a bigger share of money from the IOC’s broadcasting and sponsorship income.

The stripped medals were among 11 cases at championships held between 2001 and 2013 that were investigated by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). Nine were overage athletes with falsified entries, including five from Saudi Arabia, and two underage athletes.

“While this step has corrected some historic wrongs, age manipulation continues to be a concern in athletics, and the AIU is actively investigating more recent allegations of this nature,” AIU chairman David Howman said.

Age manipulation in international sports has been a long-standing problem.

FIFA acknowledged in 2010 that cheating with overage players has been widespread in youth teams from Africa. Years after the 2000 Sydney Olympics, China was stripped of a bronze medal in women’s team all-around because of an underage athlete.

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From left, Claire Fitzpatrick, outgoing president, bpTT, Minister of Energy and Energy Industries Stuart Young, and David Campbell, incoming president, bpTT.

Energy Minister Stuart Young on Friday met the new president of bpTT, David Campbell who replaces outgoing president Claire Fitzpatrick.

Campbell has been with bp for 38 years and held leadership roles in commercial, operational and technical fields, stated a release from the Energy Ministry.

Fitzpatrick accompanied Campbell to the meeting at the ministry’s office in Port of Spain. She paid her respects and appreciation to Young.

Fitzpatrick, who has been at bpTT since 2018, moves on to a new role at the energy giant in London. She has been a part of key projects with the ministry including the restructuring of Atlantic LNG, in which bpTT is a shareholder.

Young thanked Fitzpatrick for her support and looked forward to working with Campbell on ongoing and future projects.

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Scotiabank TT Managing Director Gayle Pazos. FILE PHOTO – Scotiabank

IN A BID to be a more all-inclusive entity, Scotiabank is facilitating sign language training for its staff to enable them to better interact with and give better service to the bank’s differently-abled customers.

The bank said in a release on Friday that it recognises the importance of making banking as easy as possible for all customers including the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

With this in mind, it is working on ensuring front-line employees at each of its branches are trained in sign language.

“Providing the best banking service means creating an environment that takes into account and respects the requirements and needs of all our customers.

“Having employees trained in sign language enables them to communicate more effectively with deaf and hard of hearing customers.

“It also supports customers’ ability to carry out their banking transactions with complete independence, boosting their confidence and comfort in dealing with the bank,” said Gayle Pazos – senior VP and managing director of Scotiabank TT.

Since 2021, the release added, front line employees across the bank’s branches have participated in a series of educational training on finger spelling, sign language vocabulary, basic communication and banking communication.

To date, just under 50 employees have been certified and the bank said it remains committed to rolling out continued training for more employees in the near future.

“We’re proud that 95 per cent of branches have certified employees who aim to provide a more positive, hands on and inclusive experience for the deaf and hard of hearing community,” Pazos said.

A deaf customer of the San Fernando branch commented recently, “Now that Scotiabank has sign language as a tool, everyone gets an opportunity to communicate privately without the need for an interpreter. I am happy that my community can now access banking services easier.”

Employees have also provided positive feedback. Akilla Morton of the Lowlands Branch indicated, “Participating in the training has allowed me to have a greater appreciation, basic understanding and means of communicating with members of the deaf and hard of hearing community who visit the branch.

“I have already used what I learnt to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing customers in a simpler and more effective way.”

Shebeka Diaz of the Arima branch said, “This training has helped me provide excellent customer service. I enjoy seeing the smile on my customers’ faces as I can communicate with them in their preferred way of understanding. I am proud to be a part of a bank that has adopted such an inclusive initiative, showing care for all members of society.”

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