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Just how much Dick can Trinidad and Tobago take?
TV6 kept the spotlight on the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastic Federation’s (TTGF) private parts tonight with emails, which allegedly showed Marisa Dick’s mother, Hannifer Dick, and coach, Anita Pelletier, campaigning for the Canada-based athlete to be given her teammate Thema Williams’ spot at the Rio 2016 Olympic Test event.
(Courtesy Hannifer Dick)
“Mom thinks her child should be selected before anyone else on the planet” is hardly shocking news. But Dick and Pelletier’s suggestions for how the TTGF could deprive Williams of the Olympic qualifying spot she earned—based on pre-World Artistic Gymnastics Championship criteria that both athletes agreed to—sounded eerily similar to the stuff subsequently attempted by the local body.
Add the fact that one of Dick’s coaches, according to a FIG website posting in 2015, was TTGF second vice president Ricardo Lue Shue, and you have enough to make any conspiracy theorist get weak in the knees.
Lue Shue, of course, acted as the athlete’s stand-in coach in Rio. And, although his current position on the board may sound modest, bear in mind that Lue Shue was president for eight years until 2015.
Then, since the TTGF has two-term limits, Lue Shue swapped places with current president David Marquez, so he could retain close proximity with power.
Russian premier Vladimir Putin would be proud.
(Courtesy Businessinsider.com)
A persistent, conniving Dick—and we are talking about mama Dick who increasingly appears a bit bent to the left—plus two interchangeable TTGF testicles equals “Fifty Shades of Gymnastics.”
Don’t expect any protection from Sport Minister Darryl “Princes” Smith who, under no circumstances, will even participate in a talk about Dick.
Smith has spent the past four months wearing his supposed ignorance of the gymnastic body’s Dick-ish behaviour as a badge of honour.
First, Smith said he did not know what the confusion was about and needed a brief on the TTGF’s Dick obsession. Then he thought it was too early to act, then it was too late to act, then he suggested that he might only make things worse if he tried to act.
In short, Smith’s preparation for his role as sport minister must surely have included internships at the passport division, Port of Spain’s General Hospital, Courts’ help desk—or all three.
(Courtesy Ministry of Sport)
Or maybe he is just distracted by his fight to the death with sport presenter James Saunders to remain the last Mohawk-ian standing.
No matter. Williams has the rare luxury as a youth athlete to have two attorneys, Keith Scotland and Dr Emir Crowne, and Marquez and company will almost certainly have to justify their behaviour in court.
Perhaps the chance of justice—one way or the other—will help to cool passions on social media. Dick, for one, is no longer walking around with more policemen than you can find in an entire police station on any given afternoon.
Presumably someone explained that Sparrow’s “Willy Dead” wasn’t meant as a death threat.
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The entire executive of the TTGF should be banned for life, not only from gymnastics but from all other sports – whether here in Trinidad & Tobago or any other country.
Just my humble opinion, I believe while the Ministry is definitely following the direction in which this issue is heading, I think before it gets to Ministerial intervention, the Olympic Association is the authority which should get involved prior, as they are the ones who National bodies rely on for subventions…I stand corrected on this one, based on my tenure as a past sports person.
Yep, ‘doing my part behind the scenes’ would be spot on … including de-funding the dishonest TGF
The Min. of Sports seems to be “sporting” with this serious issue; or perhaps he’s trying to reprise the role that Prakash Ramadhar played in the PPGORTT.
Has nothing to do with the Minister, he can’t affect the decision or make the decision…..so why should he get entangled. As part of the government he needs to be impartial.
It is better to ask for forgiveness than permission. TTGF & Dick bet on the surety that there will be noise about their move but no substantial action. Once Dick competes it matters not whether we support her or hate her. Competing by any means necessary.
A victory in court is no victory if Dick competes. The court at most can award a monetary compensation but will not pull out Dick. And would certainly not do this in time for the deadline to notify FIG of whether we are taking our spot or not.
This saga makes the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan drama seem civil.
Lasana Liburd you need to stop posting about this and pissing me off more and more everyday. ??
Lol. I know you’re a dance mom too like Shaka. You will have to tango with these administrators eventually!
Lasana Liburd here is what my take is on this whole affair. I am in no way affiliated with gymnastics or the TTGF but from all that I have read these are the conclusions I have come to.
1. The TTGF believed that Marisa Dick was the more consistent athlete leading up to the Worlds.
2. The TTGF assumed that Marisa would perform better at the world’s than Thema so they came up with the criteria that which athlete performed better at the world’s would go to the Rio Test Event.
3. When Thema performed better than Marisa at the world’s (possibly due to Marisa’s injury) they were caught between a “rock and a hard place” and sought to see if there was any way for them to change the criteria (thus the delay after the world’s to official announce that Thema was the athlete to go to the test event)
4. Someone in their “infinite wisdom” concocted a plan to discredit Thema by writing a letter to the TTGF about a picture of Thema that they supposedly found on the internet.
5. The TTGF was quick to initiate a disciplinary hearing against Thema and the whole thing blew up in their face as someone subsequently found more “raunchy” photos of Marisa on the internet (plus the tweet about her heart always being with Canada)
6. Thema’s coach was attempting to play the classic game of “CYA” by the things he put in his report (ie he suggested to her that she should not compete because of her injury, her practice session was a disaster and that she had multiple falls). In my opinion the contents in his report were in the event that Thema didn’t qualify his defense would have been “I told you so”.
7. The TTGF having backed themselves into a corner that they couldn’t get out of, saw this as an opportunity to “correct the wrongs” they had made. They hastily organised a meeting (including having people call in from abroad) and made a decision to replace Thema, however before informing Thema and her coach of their decision, they made sure to contact Marisa (and/or her mother) to confirm that she could reach to Rio before making the decision to change athletes.
8. The TTGF executive has to take ultimate responsibility for “all d bachannal” and resign.
I would agree with a lot of that.
Great story bro.
It may make for eye-catching copy but you are being unfair to the Minister. You must be aware of recent sanctions by the IOC against India and Kuwait for government interference?
It’s simple…if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.
Merryl, I recommend that you go study the cases in India and Kuwait and see what happened in those countries. We have already explained why it is a silly example and a diversion.
In Kuwait, for instance, the IOC head was thrown in a jail cell.
Have you seen anyone suggest that the TTGF president be thrown in a jail by the Sport Minister?
I feel like I was very clear in terms of what the Sport Minister can and cannot do. Anyone who cares to find out can read up on it and see for themselves.
Here is a story link: http://wired868.com/2016/03/15/smith-leave-me-out-of-it-sport-minister-will-not-intervene-in-gymnastics-furore/
Lasana Liburd, You made my day with your article!
Bwahahahaha. …the Sports Minister’s internships….that was priceless, he truly seems to lack any managerial or strategic skills….also he seems ignorant of the fact that any organisation that receives taxpayers money must withstand very high scrutiny, but that lack of understanding is across the board in TT….
Wow!! are you Lasana or Charles DICKens?…. Classic!!
If the Government gets involve ‘Minister of Sports’ we could be penalised by the IOC let our TTOC decide…..what he did indirectly is get SPORTT to demand audited books from TTGF. Let us keep the pressure on Lu Shu and the board!!
Do you think the Sport Minister’s job is just to sign cheques and pose for photos? Of course he can get involved without sanction. It is just a matter of how he does it.
killing me at this hour of the morning
When are you publishing the book? A compilation of these classics.
Lasana — please. Usually I respect your opinions. You are above puns on Dick’s name that do no more than reveal an immature, unprofessional pettiness. As a writer you should know that this is too easy, too cheap.
The reason I write under “Mr Live Wire” sometimes is not to hide my identity. It is to make it clear that the delivery and style will be different. More mischievous, for sure.
Some people will like it and others won’t. I am happy for your feedback and respect your opinion.
And I thank you, though we disagree, for your measured response.
What? You don’t like Dick? Is this all too hard to swallow?
As a matter of fact, I do like dick, since you asked. But thank you for proving my point.
I bow to you sensei. You are indeed the master of the spoken word. John Oliver ain’t want nothing with you
Lol. You might have gone overboard there. But thanks! 🙂
The more I read about this, the fishier it gets. Somebody say “conspiracy”!
Seems Hannifer has been making Dick-ish moves from behind the scenes for a long time. Hahahahahahahaha!
But what gets me the most from this ever-worsening situation is simply this: It seems that despite all of the obstacles placed ion front of her, Thema strode forward and did her best and thrived under conditions to which the two girls had previously agreed. Yet, when their preferred candidate looked like missing out on the big payday (Olympic qualification), the TTGF borrowed from the TTFA and shifted the goalposts on Thema at every opportunity. And despite her protestations to the contrary, Marisa is by no means an innocent bystander unwittingly dragged into in this drama; with every connivance used to slip her back into contention despite clear guidelines set in advance she has to have known that the deck was being unfairly stacked in her favour over and over and over again.
I do hope that Thema follows through on her legal threat and embarrasses Marques, Lue Shue et al in court for their individual and collective folly!
Sad to say but Azerbaijan deserves the Olympic spot much more than Marisa does. #ThemaorAzerbaijan
All I Cud do is share the article… My eyes wide open with that heading.. Lasana hope you okay
Damn he does..damn he don’t..painful for both young women…
Probably because he knows one or all of the parties. Smh!
He is taking too long to pull it out in the full glare of the public.
Thank you sir for keeping us informed and for your overall excellent journalism!
I’m officially at a loss for words as this situation seems to only worsen the more we learn.
Waste of precious time with these glorified MPs…
…And all the King’s horses and all the King’s men couldn’t put humpty dumpty (or TTGF) back together again…Sigh
Well written Lasana especially about Darryl “princes”Smith. One wonders if he has a clue about anything. The TTGF is a bunch of morons running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They lying so much each one forgetting which lie they’re supposed to use. Dey ass dark when this reach to court. Not even Ramesh could help them this time. Bess they call on Brutus Iscariot.
your headline for this story get better by the second (she said in a bid to lighten the mood and escape the dour shadows of nepotisim, colourism, and idiocy that threaten to descend and suffocate what was left of her country).
Lasana what is Princes’ Handicap ?
Work!
Lasana Liburd – I trying to relax. Why you posting things to make ppl cuss and get on?
haha
Lol. I’m afraid to ask you for details there Kendall.
We need the details on the purchase of the plane ticket from Edmonton Alberta to Rio who purchased and when was the reservation made! Sitting in my easy chair here in Red Deer Alberta.
Why should he ? If I was him I would be doing my part behind the scenes…..This was always going to have legal implications and the government don’t need the distraction with all the other messes we have going on at the moment….keep outta dat mr minister….Let the court deal with dat ?
One Dick’s tricks didn’t work as hoped and now two women are disappointed…
Another gem. Instigator-In-Chief Lasana Liburd , yuh see what yuh start?
I… I have no words.
“A persistent, conniving Dick—and we are talking about mama Dick who increasingly appears a bit bent to the left—plus two interchangeable TTGF testicles equals “Fifty Shades of Gymnastics.”
? A master stroke. ?
The Putin pic and caption!
It sweeeeeeet.
As for the article itself, an exquisite work of wordplay indeed.
Lasana Liburd plays well with his words.
Looks like Wired868 is testing hard limits tonight.
That heading, Lasana Liburd, hahahahahahahahaha!
Lol
I loved it.
Is there a post somewhere with the emails ?
https://www.facebook.com/935233769931228/videos/940443429410262/
ning to Marisa’s full interview. She knows what she did and she’ do it all over again. It “wouldn’t be smart” to deny her of the spot – is that a threat to sue FIG or the TTOC? And it’s not her fault she was the TTGF’s favorite so she’s innocent? So scripted and disingenuous.
I. just. can’t. even.
Travesty. No other words