By Neto Baptiste
National sprinter Cejhae Greene said he is not worried about achieving the 10 seconds qualification mark for the 100 meters sprint as he continues to prepare for this year’s Paris Olympics set to run from July 26 to August 11.
Appearing recent on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Greene expressed confidence in being able to achieve the mark but reminded there are now others ways to qualify.
“For a person like me, it doesn’t really play too much on my mind because I’ve done it too many times. It may sound a type of way but the qualifying mark is 10 seconds flat and yes, my personal best legally is 10 flat, but I’ve run nine [seconds] a few times with a little bit of wind, but I’ve run 10 flat so many times.
“Also, a lot of people forget the other aspect of qualifying because there are two ways you could make the Olympics and World Championships, which is by running 10 seconds flat and by qualifying through your world rankings. So, as of right now, based on my world rankings, I am in the quota of athletes who have technically qualified to make the Olympics,” he said.
Greene, the country’s top senior sprinter, struggled with injuries last season and made an early exit from last year’s World Championships held in Budapest, Hungary after clocking 10.23 seconds to finish sixth in Heat 4 of the Men’s 100 meters.
Asked if he thinks this will be his year to succeed, Greene said that has always been and remains the mindset.
“If the day comes where I wake up and I don’t think it’s going to be my year, then that’s the day I stop. If I wake up one off-season or one day for a competition and I don’t think I am the best out there or I don’t think it’s going to be my day, then I might as well stop. The drive is gone and am not competing for anything anymore and at this point I am just here. I’ve never been that athlete to just be here,” he said.
The sprinter, who has always spoken openly about the financial struggles of being a professional athlete, said there has been some level of improvement with regards to the level of communication from key institutions here, but added that more can be done.
“The association, I’ve noticed they are trying to do a little bit better but there is still a lot of room for improvement and I think a lot of it is that they don’t know what’s going on and they don’t know the life of a professional athlete and what it takes to become a professional athlete. I think that one of the misconceptions also is what it takes to stay on this level as a professional athlete. We use to laugh and say it’s like somebody wanting to take two cents and win two million at the lotto,” Greene said.
“I think Antigua has been blessed with talented athletes over the years who have been doing so much with so little that they somehow expect you to keep doing it and not understand how much it really takes,” he added.
A total of 1,810 athletes will compete in athletics at Paris 2024, including 905 women and 905 men. For individual events, there will be a maximum of three athletes per NOC eligible to qualify, with a maximum of two teams per NOC per team event and one relay team per NOC for relay events.
In terms of Universality Places, any NOC that has no male or female qualified athlete or relay team will be allowed to enter their best ranked male or best ranked female athlete in either the 100m, 800m or marathon.
