Former World champion Perdita Felicien still unsure about Beijing Olympics
Thursday June 5, 2008

 

By Gary Smith
Gary Smith is a freelance journalist in Florida. If you're interested in stories - Contact Gary Smith
 Get 100 FREE Visitors to Your Website!

 

FLORIDA, USA -- Canadian former World champion Perdita Felicien is still unsure about her status and could miss this summer's Olympics Games in Beijing, China because of a stress fracture in her foot, reports are still saying. 

The 2003 world champion suffered the foot injury this winter and has been missing in action and has been going through tough times to not only recover from the fracture, but to also regain her confidence as a world-leading hurdler.

Felicien reportedly has been shutting out media attentions about the subject for the past few months, but her manager Renaldo Nehemiah said last month that he is still confident she has time to recover for the Canadian Trials (July) and the Olympic Games (August).

"Her Olympic trials are in July," Nehemiah told the Canadian Broadcasting Centre earlier this year. "I am not concerned. The games are in August, so there are two benchmarks.

"Everything in between is irrelevant, we are not worrying about other races. An athlete of her caliber wants to make the team and be Olympics ready."

However, Nehemiah, a former world record holder in the 110m hurdles would not put a definite time on when she will return to the track.

Meanwhile, Felicien, who according to a report is currently in Toronto with her old club coach Curtis Sahadath, has been advised to cool off with the intense training for a while, so as to give her foot time to fully heel.

The Canadian has been visiting physiotherapy clinics in Vancouver and Toronto for the past four months.

"Psychologically we didn’t want her racing without her thinking only about racing,” Nehemiah explained. “So the team she works with up there said ‘Let's get you off of it then reassess it.’

"Her primary focus right now is to prepare for the Canadian Olympic trials then, after that, take the competitive season from there.

"To try to do a shortcut when she missed training and the necessary groundwork, we don’t want that. She is going about her preparations as anyone would do -- that’s get the base together so she is not lacking when it comes time to be ready," he added.

In the meantime, Gary Winckler, coach of the University of Illinois and the man who guided Felicien to her first gold medal at the world championships in Paris 2003, said he was not sure about the current situation, but he does expect her back in Illinois.

"I really can't talk about it," Winckler was quoted as saying this week in on the Canadian Broadcasting Centre. "You need to talk to her agent.

"She is still in Toronto. I did [expect her back in Illinois] but you need to talk to her agent because I am really not in the loop."

Gary Smith is a freelance journalist in Florida. If you're interested in stories - Contact Gary Smith