By Michelangelo Jacobus

FOLLOWING his ill-advised participation at a strong-fit competition in Barbados on May 5-6 which resulted in a subsequent 12-month suspension from competitions, powerlifter Carlos Petterson-Griffith has been the centre of attention in recent days with mixed reactions from the media and the powerlifting fraternity.

In a bid to bring clarity to the situation, the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) held a press conference last evening in the Boardroom of the Guyana National Newspapers Ltd (GNNL) where it was revealed that Petterson-Griffith’s suspension is final.

Constitutional violations
The competition that he attended included a powerlifting aspect (All three lifts were done at the event: Squat, Bench Press and Deadlift) and as such, the GAPLF had to make a decision as it was found that Petterson violated both the International Powerlifitng Federation’s constitution along with the Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation’s constitution.

 In Article 14.9 of the IPF Constitution, it states, “Participating in Non-IPF Competition, any lifter, coach, referee or official who competes or participates in an international powerlifting or Bench Press competition not organised, sanctioned or approved by the IPF shall not be permitted to take part in any IPF international or regional competition for a period of 12 months from the date of that non-approved competition.”

Alongside that, the GAPLF’s constitution states in Section 12, Article 1, point 4 “The stated reasons for suspension are not a closed list and the Executive members shall collectively exercise their discretion when opting to suspend a member of the GAPLF.

The following may be subject to suspension: 4. Any lifter who participates in a contest with other countries without the permission of the GAPLF.”

The Guyana Amateur Powerlifting Federation (GAPLF) has made the decision to not support Carlos Petterson’s trip to Worlds in Sweden, since he competed at the event without the expressed permission of the GAPLF.  Petterson will not compete at the Worlds competition in June, 2019 or any other IPF- sanctioned events for a period of 12 months (May 5, 2019 to May 5, 2020).

Discipline
At the presser, in a statement to the media, the GAPLF Executive noted; “The IPF, as well as the GAPLF, stresses discipline and fair dealings with our athletes. The GAPLF, under the 2019, 2018 and 2017 executive body, has never treated any one athlete differently from the other”.

It continued, “As a federation, we recognize that we are nothing without our athletes; but in promoting our athletes who are international ambassadors for Guyana, we press our athletes to display discipline, self-control and to adhere to the regulatory measures of the IPF and GAPLF”.

Warnings
After the emergence of an article in Stabroek News Sports which alleged the victimisation of Petterson, GAPLF President Ed Caesar pointed out that the embattled athlete has in the past been issued three warning letters for matters which are not related to the issue at hand.

“As an executive, we have since moved forward to progressively work with Petterson to ensure that he is promoted within our sport, we recognize that his success at the World Championships would have been a success for the federation, but we refuse to allow an athlete who has been made aware on three occasions, with his acknowledgement being on record (of the exact provision, 149.9 of the IPF Constitution), to violate our rules and rest in the comfort of accusing this Executive of victimization for his blatant disregard to rules”.

Caesar ended; “The Federation cannot sit back and allow this disregard for rules to persist as this will bring future consequences and further disregard by other athletes”.