I’d love to coach Jamaica, says Graham
Observer Reporter
Thursday, January 12, 2006
GRAHAM… wants more consistency from athletes this year
Jamaican-born Trevor Graham, coach of Sprint Capitol USA, has kept open his offer to make himself available to Jamaica’s team and expects Dwight Thomas to run under-10 seconds this year.
“I have made the offer (as a coach of the national team) and that offer is still open,” said Graham, who was part of the Jamaica’s 4x400m silver medal relay team at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea.
Graham, who has produced 20 Olympic athletes, including champions Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, and Shawn Crawford, said Thomas was “still learning to run the 100 metres”.
He noted that Thomas, who ran 10 seconds flat last year, wanted to run both the 100 metres and 110 metres hurdles, but he advised the young Jamaican sprinter that it was “difficult in the professional arena to focus on two events” and that the hurdles was a “lot more technical”.
The Sprint Capitol coach, who reads physics books as well as coaching material to master his craft, said he wanted “more consistency” from his athletes in 2006 and for them to take a shot at the “100m world record”.
World and Olympic sprint champion Justin Gatlin (right) of the US and training partner Jamaican Dwight Thomas training at the National Stadium yesterday. (Photo: Bryan Cummings)
Graham believes Thomas can run 9.8 or 9.9 seconds this season as he prepares for the Commonwealth Games with the running of indoor meets.
Graham said there were no “short cuts to hard work”.
Graham told the Observer he believed Jones has not taken any performance-enhancing substance.
“She needs a coach,” Graham explained, adding that the American could bounce back to the top of her game.
Graham said Stephen Francis, Asafa Powell’s coach, should get all the help he can so that his charges “could achieve”, and that the local fraternity should rally round the fastest man alive (Powell) in order for him to recover from his injury.
One of his dreams, said Graham, was to “coach a Jamaican female sprinter” and he hopes that that will happen soon.
Graham also said his reason for returning to Jamaica for this weekend’s Douglas Forrest Invitational Track and Field meet was the “fun” he had with the kids.
He would be interested in holding clinics and seminars in Jamaica.
Meanwhile, Thomas said he was “training hard” to reach his goals, and that he admired the “confidence” of training partner Gatlin, a Olympic and World Champion.
“I want to work on my confidence,” Thomas stressed, which included focusing on his race, getting in shape, working on the mental aspect of his race and his start.
“I’m always hesistant at the start, watching people beside me. I want to get out there with everyone,” he said.
Gatlin, meanwhile, said he would focus on the 100 metres as everybody wanted “to see a faster Gatlin”.
“With a fast track, right conditions, and strong competition,” Gatlin said, he would break the world record - a record which he and his team-mates, including Shawn Crawford, also want to shatter.
