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McLean: CIASA tried to prevent swimmers from going to Olympics

Cayman Islands Olympic Committee President Donald McLean says the local swimming association did everything it could to prevent Geoffrey and Lara Butler from going to the Olympics.

It’s an accusation those at CIASA deny.

The Butlers were selected for Rio 2016 through the International Olympic Committee’s Universality Programme, geared to help smaller countries send athletes to the games even if they didn’t meet qualifying standards.

Appearing on the 27 July episode of Let’s Talk Sports, McLean said the Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association refused to fill out paperwork or cooperate in getting the swimmers selected through the programme.

“This is where we had a little head-butting with the national federation because their philosophy or policy is that they do not condone universality invitations, (swimmers) should qualify,” McLean said. “I disagree because our object is to send people to games, not hinder them. Having said that, the swimming federation tried everything possible to prevent these athletes from going.”

CIASA President Michael Lockwood responded to McLean’s comments with the following statement:

“We’ll just do the best we can to support Lara and Geoffrey on their road to Rio. We arranged last week for them to do a training camp in Miami and we’ve made efforts to support them the best we can at this point and see them through to the Olympics.”

Geoffrey Butler is set to take off in the men’s 400-metre freestyle while Lara Butler will compete in the women’s 100-metre backstroke.

Tags olympic committee olympics universality programme

About the author

Kevin Morales

Cayman 27 News Director Kevin Morales is an award-winning journalist with more than 12 years of experience. Kevin is a Milwaukee, Wis., native. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism in 2005 from the University of Minnesota. He's a proud father and a loyal fan of the Green Bay Packers, Milwaukee Brewers, Milwaukee Bucks and U of M Golden Gophers.

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