By STEVE BUFFERY -- Toronto Sun
SYDNEY -- The revamped Canadian men's relay squad nailed the 16th and final spot in the semi-finals and then team veteran Glenroy Gilbert hammered Athletics Canada.
Gilbert, 31, bashed the governing body of Canadian track and field for allowing the relay squad to dangle in the wind all week while sprint star Donovan Bailey made up his mind whether he wanted to run.
After a couple of nights recuperating from a viral infection at the Moose Lodge, a bar in the Darling Harbour area of Sydney, Bailey decided he was still too sick and weak to run.
That left Gilbert and the rest of the runners just one day to train together for yesterday's heats and semi-final.
Two days ago, the normally easy-going Gilbert, slammed Bailey for his me-first attitude in a Toronto Sun article. Last night, after guiding the young relay squad into the semis, he took aim at Athletics Canada.
HURDLER RECRUITED
In the weeks leading up the Games, Bailey, Gilbert and others lobbied AC to send a couple of extra sprinters to Sydney in case someone got hurt or sick. Only six sprinters were dispatched to the Games and when Bruny Surin came down with a hamstring injury and Bailey a virus, that left only four men to defend Canada's Olympic relay title.
The decision not to heed the advice of the sprinters has backfired. Immediately after running the anchor leg in the heats last night, Nicolas Macrozonaris announced that, because of a sore right hamstring, he wouldn't be able to run in the semis early this morning. That meant the relay squad had to recruit Toronto hurdler Adrian Woodley to run the anchor.
"They need to clean house and start anew," Gilbert said. "And start anew with the athletes in mind. Somehow I think they've forgotten about the athletes. A lot of times you speak and it's almost like nobody's listening. Nothing gets done."
Even the young Macrozonaris, 20, delivered a salvo about the way the Bailey situation was handled all week.
"I'm telling you guys right now, I can't run," Macrozonaris said. "Simple as that. I'm not going to say, 'Guys I don't know.' And then everybody's confused. I'm telling you I can't run, and that's it. The same thing should have been done a long time ago with Donovan. Then we would be focused at least three days in advance, instead of one day only."
Bailey, 32, said he would be at the Olympic Stadium to support the relay guys if he couldn't run. The Oakville sprinter was not spotted anywhere near the track yesterday and there were reports he had left Australia.
The Canadian team -- which featured Calgary's Brad McCuaig running the leadoff leg, followed by perennial second-leg man Gilbert, then Toronto youngster Pierre Browne and Macrozonaris -- finished third in its heat yesterday in 39.26 seconds. Its time was a season-best but only good enough for 16th spot overall after the heats -- the last spot into the semis -- thanks to Ghana's anchor crashing out and Great Britain being disqualified.
The Canadian women's relay team finished last in its heat in 44.08 and failed to advance.
