I had severe cramps - McLeod

Olympic champion Omar McLeod and his coach Rana Reider both went on social media yesterday to explain the reasons for the athlete's dismal performance in the men's 110 metres hurdles final at the JAAA National Senior Championships at the weekend. Both blamed the 8 a.m. start of the last day of competition after McLeod finished at the back of the field in the final, jogging across the finish line in 16.22 seconds. Responding to a tweet, Reider said McLeod, who trains at the PUMA sponsored Tumbleweed Track Club, a professional track team based in Jacksonville, was hit with cramps before the race. "Omar isn't hurt, didn't have bad race. Was cramping. The 8 a.m. final kinda (expletive) him."

McLeod expressed his disappointment on Twitter and blamed the scheduling for his poor execution. According to McLeod's post the semi-finals and final of this event are usually run on the same day, but without any logical consideration for the athletes, the schedule was changed at the last minute.

"Saturday's semi after being delayed for about a hour, I ran a very composed race and an easy 13.04, my second fastest time this year. I tried not to over-exert myself, knowing I had to come back early in the morning for the finals," he said. He explained that after the semi-final he rushed back to the hotel, had a massage, ate dinner and then tried to sleep in order to wake up at 5 a.m. to begin his preparation for the final.

However, he insisted that from the outset he never liked the idea (early final) but thought he had no other option but to turn up and compete.

"That really did not sit well with me but I was like hey it's the Olympic Trials, so I guess we have no choice but to show up. So this (Sunday) morning after barely getting four hours sleep, I showed up with a positive attitude and ready to go. I had a great warm up, everything felt good and I was ready to run really fast," he tweeted.

"It was time to race. I walked out on the track and put my spikes on, and bomb, the worst thing all athletes dread begun to happen. I started having severe cramps in my abductor and calves." Yesterday, Jamaica Administrative Athletic Association (JAAA) first vice-president, Ian Forbes, insisted that their scheduling is in line with World Athletics and the Olympic Games. "We are very sorry with respect to what happened. But there is a pandemic and there are certain restrictions in terms of curfew, so these are not normal times ...," he said.

He added: "The team will be selected in short order and I cannot make any comments in respect to that but if he is not on the team we will miss him."