“Hope them change,” Olympic Games shot put bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell told The Gleaner when asked about his rumoured switch of allegiance to represent Turkey’s national team.
Asked to clarify who are “them” and if this Turkey move would be because of a need for better treatment of field athletes and if a switch to Turkey would be influenced by money, Campbell responded to The Gleaner with an emoji showing a zip locked mouth, signifying his silence on the matter.
The shot put national record holder is one of at least three Jamaicans reported to be in the process of switching allegiance to compete for Turkey. This has sparked island- wide discussions around patriotism and the up to $500,000 payout and monthly stipends offered by the Turks to athletes.
While mum on the allegiance switch, Campbell called for better treatment of Jamaican field athletes.
“Jamaica has been having success in the field events for the longest time and even then the cries were there for improvement and support, but I don’t believe the situation will change much. But if it is something they feel is necessary, then possibly, but until plans are executed, I don’t believe it will change much,” he said.
Although four of the six medals earned by Jamaican at the 2024 Paris Olympics came from field athletes, Campbell said he does not think those results will spark much, if any, changes when it comes on to how field events athletes are treated.
“I do not believe that the achievements at the Paris Olympics are going to have much impact on the overall structure to improve field events in Jamaica, mainly because, in the moment promises are made but, after everything cools down then it is back to their old ways,” Campbell said.
His call for more to be done for field athletes goes beyond how they are treated locally, but also internationally as he says events such as Grand Slam Track should offer field athletes an opportunity to share the stage with track athletes.
“Track athletes have always had the opportunity to earn. What Grand Slam is doing is giving them more opportunities to earn more which I believe is good and necessary but the issue is that you exclude half the events in the sport. There is a lot of downtime where there was nothing going on. That’s where the field events (come in) and the field events pull their own crowd as well. I see what they are doing (and) once other athletes are earning I will always be in support of that, but the overall structure of it I just don’t agree with because you exclude half of the events,” he stated.
Nevertheless, Campbell is focused on improving on last year’s performances.
“The 2024 season was definitely my best season so far. Looking to improve on that,” he said.
He believes he can improve on the 22.31 metres national record he set in September last year.
“I have got stronger, the next target right now is to put myself among the greats, so I am pushing to see if I can get into top five all the time in the event.”
He also sees himself bettering his Paris Olympics bronze medal at future international events.
“I believe that based on the work I have done in the off-season, based on the progress I have made and the consistency I have had, I definitely see an improvement on the bronze,” he stated. “Motivation is necessary. For me, I have set a goal for myself, very tough goal but, I believe I have the necessary tools, programmes and structure to achieve it. It is so far ahead, where this is just the ground work for it, so that keeps me going.”
