Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

FENNELL

WITH ITS reputation scarred by years of crime and violence, Kingston is likely to enjoy a change in fortunes when it hosts matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, according to Mike Fennell, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association.

Mr. Fennell made this observation on Wednesday, during a Gleaner Editors' Forum which featured five of the track and field administrators and coaches, who were recipients of the newspaper's 2006 Honour Award.

"When you host a big international event, the legacy comes in a variety of things," he said. "It forces your country to do certain things that they would be postponing. You can see the things happening on South Camp Road and other places," he stated.

Mr. Fennell, who has travelled to every major track and field event in the past 30 years, gave two examples to illustrate his point.

First, the Olympics in Athens, Greece, in 2004 and the Common-wealth Games, which will be held in Delhi, India, in 2010.

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"Athens was probably one of the most downtrodden cities in Europe, but when we got there for the Olympics it was a clean, modern city with good transportation and new highways, which is their lasting legacy," he explained.

"Delhi is now building new roads and new hospitals which were all part of the city plan but they are forced to do this in time for 2010, and who will be the beneficiaries of this? The citizens of Delhi."

Sabina Park, in Kingston, is being renovated at a cost of US$28 million to host the opening game between the West Indies and Pakistan, on March 13.

Seven matches in Group D will also be played there, so too will one of the tournament's semi-finals.

Teddy McCook, the International Amateur Athletics Federation's area representative for the Caribbean, and coaches, Dennis Johnson, Glen Mills and Maurice Wilson, also attended yesterday's function.