The Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium of the Juan Pablo Duarte Olympic Center, the capital city’s main sports center, has had an intense use for international shows of all sorts. The last was the Monster Jam Truck performance in November 2022.
The sports authorities seem, though, to have forgotten that the Felix Sanchez Olympic Stadium track is the country’s main training facility for track and field athletes.
The Ministry of Sports had issued a press release on 26 January 2023 indicating that “in a few days” the repairs would begin on the sports track. But almost six months later, nothing has happened, reports El Nuevo Diario. The Ministry had reported that the repair of the main and warm up tracks would be carried out for RD$95 million.
The delays in repairing the country’s main track are happening at a time when the Dominican Republic’s top-ranked athlete, Marileidy Paulino has just set a personal best, training abroad and is ranked tops in the world in the 400 m run.
The most recent national and international events have been held in Bayaguana, in the province of Monte Plata. The Monte Plata track is named after Olympic silver medalist Luguelin Santos, who began his career there. The Monte Plata track was built for the National Games in 2006 and, a board has kept the track in good conditions.
El Nuevo Diario reporters say that the holes in the Santo Domingo track are still the same or worse after years of athletes complaining about the condition of the field.
“We don’t want to run on these tracks because we can get injured, however, these are the ones we have, hopefully they will fix it,” said a high-performance athlete who trains at the battered track and who did not want to give his name for possible reprisals from the sports authorities.
El Nuevo Diario contacted the president of the Dominican Athletics Federation, Gerardo Suero Correa, who said he did not know when the work on the tracks of the Olympic Center will start.
“They (Miderec) sent a letter a few days ago that we received, in the same letter it indicates that they are going to start the works on the tracks, but they do not say when, they do not give a date, nor have they taken us into account for anything,” Suero Correa told the El Nuevo Diario reporters.
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El Nuevo Diario
1 June 2023