An 18-year-old girl will make history this summer as the first gymnast from Trinidad and Tobago to represent the island nation at the Olympic Games.
Marisa Dick. Image courtesy capcitygymwoms.blogspot.com
Her battle for qualification has gripped the country, but there will be no parades in her honor, no banners to see her off at the airport, in fact, there will be virtually no support for her whatsoever.
Marisa Dick may even be the most hated figure in Trinidad right now.
Most of the Caribbean island’s 1.3 million inhabitants apparently believe that Dick, a Canadian-born athlete, has conned her way into the history books after stealing the Olympic dreams of her rival who was born in Trinidad.
An extraordinary tale of racial politics, alleged collusion, and topless selfies has turned the competition to represent Trinidad at the Olympic gymnastics competition into the nastiest domestic rivalry since the ex-husband of American figure skater Tonya Hardinghired a hitman to smash up Nancy Kerrigan’s leg more than 20 years ago.
Thema Williams, who wasn’t yet born when Kerrigan came under attack, qualified for the Olympics—under Trinidad and Tobago’s own rules—by beating Dick at the World Championships in Scotland last year. What happened next was either an unfortunate misunderstanding or a conspiracy to defraud Williams out of her rightful place in Rio.
Williams, 20, was controversially pulled out of last month’s test event in Brazil by the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation hours before it was due to begin. According to some reports, first reserve Dick, whose mother was born in Trinidad, was already mysteriously en route to Rio when a supposed injury struck her teammate.
Williams, who started at a local tots and tumblers in Trinidad before moving to Michigan in the U.S. to train, claims she had not suffered an injury that would have stopped her competing. Regardless of her willingness to continue, word came from Trinidad’s gymnastics HQ in Port of Spain that Dick would take her place in the test event and thus have the chance to qualify for the Games this summer.
Many observers back home in Trinidad felt dirty tricks were at hand.
Mark Pouchet, a former youth Olympics coach and a reporter for the Trinidad Express, said the controversy has sent the entire island into turmoil.
“This is unprecedented in terms of the outrage,” he told The Daily Beast. “The general sentiment on social media is that it should be either Thema or nobody.”
Pouchet said it was impossible to prove what had motivated the gymnastics federation to break its own rules—and its contract with the athletes—in order to send a Canadian to the Games instead of a local girl.
“It seems as though it’s not fair,” Pouchet said. “A lot of it’s still speculation but there are emails that indicate that there was communication between some of the parties and also there was a clear conflict of interest.”
The vice president of the Trinidad and Tobago Gymnastics Federation (TTGF), which switched the gymnasts, will now reportedly accompany Dick to the Games in Rio as one of her coaches. Ricardo Lue Shue is also said to be close to the Dick family, hosting the athlete and her mother at his home when they stay in Trinidad.
The TTGF did not respond to a request for comment.
Read the full story on The Daily Beast
