The president of the Federation of Judo, Jaime Casanova, announced he was resigning from his post following the last Friday decision of the Dominican Olympic Committee (COD) to suspend him from his post as treasurer on that committee. Casanova said he had no comments on the COD decision that authorized judo athlete Jose Vicbart Geraldino to compete for the DR in the Athens Olympics nor on his suspension.
Casanova had suspended Vicbart from competition, but Vicbart maintained his case against Casanova and was able to secure evidence of irregularities in Casanova?s handling of International Olympic Committee funds. Luisin Mejia, who last year replaced Jose Joaquin Puello who had been at the helm of the COD for over 20 years, said the decision to reinstate Vicbart?s eligibility was made based on the contract between the International Olympic Committee and the athlete.
Hoy newspaper columnist Gustavo Rodriguez comments that with this decision, the COD is adhering to the rulings of the International Olympic Committee and refers to the press conference held to announce the decision, during which Mejia said that in the coming days he would sort out other federations with problems. Rodriguez comments that the COD needs to look into problems in gymnastics, badminton, track and field and tae kwon do, among others. ?The COD must investigate some of the federation directors that do not work but feel like Arab chiefs, because they have big SUVs and even sell sports utilities that are not for resale? Over time there will be a need to bring back decency to sports in the Dominican Republic,? he says.