Candice Scott of Trinidad and Tobago (© AFP / Getty Images)
Trinidad and Tobago’s World Championships and Olympic Hammer Throw finalist Candice Scott has completed her first month of training at the IAAF High Performance Training Centre in Havana.
After an injury-plagued year, the 26-year-old has one main goal: to meet the qualification standards for the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, Osaka, Japan, and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
“It feels great to be in Cuba right now,” confirmed Scott. “I am in good hands. Yipsi (Moreno) and Yunaika (Crawford) throw very far so that will be a plus in terms of training goals. I am also very competitive. I believe I will have great improvement while training here.”
Scott is training under the guidance of former hammer thrower and Cuban national team coach Eladio Hernandez, who has taken Moreno to two World Championship titles and a silver medal, as well as the Olympic silver in Athens, where Crawford grabbed bronze.
The Trinidadian has a personal best of 71.45m from 2005, but she needs to throw at least the B standard of 67.00m to qualify for Osaka.
“The main goal is to get back to get on the lists, for the Olympics. The Pan Am and the Worlds are first, but Beijing is the long term objective”, added the 2005 Nassau Central American and Caribbean champion.
“It is a young event and I started when I was 20. I still have a lot more to improve. That’s why I am here”.
Scott broke a bones in her left foot and suffered a meniscus in her right knee in the last year.
Recipient of an IOC-IAAF Olympic Solidarity scholarship, the University of Florida Physical Education graduate opted to train in Havana instead of doing an indoor season in the US.
Scott is part of a group of English speaking Caribbean athletes who are starting to excel in the throws, in a region characterized by sprinters and jumpers. The list includes her countrywoman Cleopatra Borel (Shot), Jamaica’s Olivia McCoy (Javelin) and Dorian Scott (Shot), who are following the footsteps of Bahamian veteran Laverne Eve. Borel is expected to join Scott in Havana.
"It all starts with one person. There is always a pioneer. In the Caribbean, we are not all sprinters. This is track and a field and we can also excel in jumps and throws. With our results, we help younger athletes to take up this discipline”, the Trinidadian commented.
Scott joins a number of world class athletes who trained in Cuba this year, such as Germany’s World Championships medallists Ralf Bartels, Franka Dietzsch and Steffi Nerius.
Javier Clavelo Robinson for the IAAF
