Jamaican fans faint as outdoor medal ceremonies spark criticism at World Champs

TOKYO, Japan:

Three Jamaican fans collapsed during Tuesday’s medal ceremony at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo as searing heat and poor crowd control reignited criticism of organisers’ decisions to stage presentations outside stadiums since Oregon 2022.

Among those affected was 79-year-old Lascelles Samuels, who said the tightly packed crowd felt “like a pressure cooker”.

“There was no circulation because everybody was leaning against each other. So you’re insulated, and you’re steaming like in a pressure cooker. I could hardly breathe, and I felt weak, the early signs,” he recalled.

Samuels tried to push his way out but said the crush of spectators made it nearly impossible.

“Even coming out was difficult because people were, like, ‘Where is he going?’ By the time I made it away from the mass, I tried to sit at a table, and the security people were saying no, no, no. There was a language problem, and they didn’t understand. That created more anxiety,” he said.

A Jamaican doctor in the crowd stepped in, helping him get stretchered to medical staff.

“By the time the Japanese doctors came, they gave IV and checked my temperature and pressure constantly. The medical staff was very good. The problem is getting to it. If you have a system that don’t allow for that, you could have casualties,” Samuels warned.

Layout “unsafe”

He said the layout was unsafe.

“There’s only one way in and the same way out for the area where the medal ceremony is staged.

If there’s an emergency, it could be extremely dangerous,” Samuels added, noting that he would now walk with “about 10 water bottles, just in case.”

Fellow supporter Donovan Johnson, who has attended World Championships for more than a decade as part of the Jamaica Sports 876 Vibes Group, called the outdoor ceremonies “inconvenient”.

“You end up milling around, standing around too long. Athletes deserve to be applauded, but we’d prefer to celebrate them from our seats inside. I saw this first in Oregon and thought it was a terrible idea then and, still, now,” Johnson said.

Dr Maurice McNaughton, one of the group’s organisers, was even more critical.

“This is a ridiculous idea. It robs the medal ceremony of its humanity. The whole stadium should be watching the athletes, seeing a real flag go up, not plastic graphics on a screen. It makes no sense,” McNaughton said.

He added that Tuesday’s setup was especially troubling: “Older fans and wheelchair users cannot endure standing outside in these conditions. Ironically, it was Japan’s national day for the elderly, and this setup excludes them.”

World Athletics, in a release this week, acknowledged Tokyo’s extreme heat and said several races were rescheduled to earlier times to protect athletes.

But the medal ceremonies remain outdoors. One Jamaican fan, who opted not to give his name, summed up the contradiction:

“If the heat is too much for athletes on the track, why are we forced to stand in it for ceremonies?”

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com