http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040625/sports/sports2.html
Campbell inks deal with Adidas
published: Friday | June 25, 2004
By LeVaughn Flynn, Staff Reporter
TOP JAMAICAN sprinter Veronica Campbell will be entering the professional circuit outfitted by Adidas after inking a four-year deal with the sporting goods company.
The former IAAF World Junior and national double sprint champion announced the contract and her decision to go pro yesterday at a press conference at the Alhambra Inn, Kingston but the specifics of the contract were not divulged. The Gleaner learnt, however, that the contract will last until the end of 2008 and, according to her agent Claude Bryan, the deal is “laden with attractive bonuses”.
In order to turn pro, Campbell had to forego her final year of eligibility as a NCAA athlete and this meant ending her athletic scholarship at the University of Arkansas where she is pursuing a bachelor degree in Marketing Management.
As one of the fastest women in the world, Campbell said she felt it was the right time to leave the collegiate circuit and step into the professional realm.
“I’m more mature now and being that it is an Olympic year I think it was the right move for me,” Campbell said.
TUITION
Adidas will underwrite all of Campbell’s tuition and living costs until she completes her degree but that was the only bonus revealed.
“While we understand the public’s demand, we have to respect Veronica’s wishes of not divulging the specifics of the contract,” Bryan said.
Campbell, along with Jamaica’s other top athletes, is in the island for this weekend’s national trials at the National Stadium. She has not recuperated fully from a hamstring injury she sustained early last year and aggravated in May, but she is still expected to make the final cut.
“I’m not 100 per cent recovered from my hamstring injury but I’m fine. They (hamstrings) are a bit tight but expect me to compete at the best of my ability and (hopefully) make the team,” Campbell said.
Assuming Campbell is selected for the Olympic Games in August, Bryan said she would run in two or three meets “to fine-tune her for the Olympics” while constantly being “assessed by her physiotherapist”.
In light of her ensuing professional career, Campbell has solicited the tutelage of Lance Brauman her coach at Barton Community College where, under his guidance, she ran her personal best of 11.0 seconds in the 100 metre.
“The competition will be more intense as a pro as you’re not only running for fun but for money, this will be my job, so it will be more competitive,” Campbell stated.
Campbell said that going pro would not significantly affect her completing her studies, which she must finish by the end of 2006. While at Barton, she maintained a 3.8 grade point average (GPA) but she admitted that it had dropped since attending the University of Arkansas.
“It’s still above three but not where I want it to be,” she said of her GPA. “Academics are just as important as athletics. What if I break my leg tomorrow? I have to have that piece of paper to get a job,” she said.