Track and field officials have issued a public apology to national athlete Lacee Barnes-Riley and her husband after the couple had their coaching credentials revoked and were publicly escorted from trackside at the 2023 CARIFTA games in the Bahamas.
Executives of the Cayman Islands Athletics Association acknowledged the incident was poorly handled. But they insist they had no choice but to take action amid concerns about accreditation for the two athletes, who were acting as coaches during the prestigious youth meet.
The association said it feared Cayman’s team could have been disqualified from the games if it had not intervened.
Nonetheless, the CIAA sought to build bridges with the shot-put and discus champion, who has spoken out about her treatment at the event.
“Ms. Barnes-Riley is a talented and respected Caymanian athlete whose contributions to the country’s track and field community, both on and off the field, are invaluable and greatly appreciated,” wrote the CIAA, in a statement to the Compass Wednesday night.
“The CIAA Executive would like to apologise to her and her husband for their experience at CARIFTA and we regret the way it unfolded.”
The response comes several days after Barnes-Riley, the national women’s record holder for shot put and discus, hurled several allegations against CIAA executives in a video that was uploaded to Instagram and has been viewed thousands of times across multiple platforms.
In her video, Barnes-Riley claims she and her husband, Adrian Riley, were escorted from the trackside by Bahamian soldiers at the request of CIAA executives for unofficially training Caymanian competitors.
“The Bahamian association President said, your federation has reported you to [the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association] and [the World Athletics Association], the head governing body for track and field, for invalidation and revoking of your accreditations and they want you removed from the facility,” said Barnes-Riley in her post.
The CIAA has refuted the claim, stating instead that Barnes-Riley was approached by unarmed policemen, not soldiers and that at the time of her removal, no officers were present.
Accreditation dispute
According to the CIAA, they were compelled to report Barnes-Riley and her husband for obtaining coaching accreditations outside of the established protocol.
“[A]ccreditation of team officials can only be made through the auspices of the Member Federation and accreditation of personal coaches can only be made with the consent of the Member Federation,” said the CIAA.
In her video, Barnes-Riley explained that she attempted to secure coaching passes for her and her husband, as she actively trains two athletes on the Cayman team.
The CIAA has verified that she did apply for accreditation through them but this was rejected because the Cayman delegation had already reached the maximum athlete-coach ratio allowed.
Despite their refusal, Barnes-Riley said she obtained coaching accreditation for her and her husband by registering directly with the CARIFTA games.
She added, “We got escorted off in front of the Cayman Team, in front of the other teams, this was not a private matter this was in public.”
According to Barnes-Riley, both she and her husband’s accreditation were revoked, however, they were allowed to remain in the facility thanks to VIP tickets that were gifted to them by the Bahamian Athletics Association president.
Revocation was inevitable
In their statement, the CIAA explained that the revocation of Ms Barnes-Riley’s and her husband’s coaching accreditation was inevitable as it posed significant risks to the association and Cayman’s athletes.
Both the meet organisers and the Cayman association agreed that the process by which the couple had obtained accreditation violated the rules. In addition, the team levies would be increased.
“For these reasons, when the President of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations asked how to proceed, the CIAA Executive asked that Mr. and Mrs. Riley’s accreditation be revoked but that they be permitted to stay in the stadium if they desired.”
The CIAA added, “We concede that the way it was handled by CARIFTA organisers was regrettable but the outcome would have been the same – a revocation of the accreditation due to the way in which it was obtained.”
The CIAA say they welcome the opportunity to “engage in dialogue” with Barnes-Riley and her husband moving forward with a view of building on the positive momentum that Cayman’s success at CARIFTA achieved.
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