Reigning men’s 100m world champion Oblique Seville will not join Jamaica’s national team for this weekend’s World Athletics Relays in Gaborone, Botswana, but his agent has firmly quashed online speculation of a falling-out between the sprinter and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) over the exit.
The athletics community was caught off guard on Sunday when news broke that both Seville and Kishane Thompson — the Olympic and World Championships silver medalist — had pulled out of the event, just weeks after they were named as headline contenders in Jamaica’s men’s 4x100m relay pool. The Caribbean nation is traveling to Botswana chasing automatic qualification spots for the 2025 World Athletics Championships scheduled to be held in Beijing, making the absences of two of its top sprinters a notable setback.
While Thompson’s exit has been widely linked to an ongoing injury issue, an unconfirmed report emerged Monday claiming Seville withdrew because the JAAA refused to cover the cost of a shorter, earlier flight to Botswana that would fit the sprinter’s schedule. The Jamaica Observer reached out to JAAA President Garth Gayle for an official response to the claim, but did not receive a reply before this article went to press.
Shortly after the speculative report circulated, the JAAA issued an official public statement Monday refuting the claims, labeling them “factually inaccurate”. According to the association’s account, the conflict centered entirely on Seville’s pre-existing contractual commitments in Miami, Florida, which required him to return from Botswana by a specific date that the available flight schedules could not accommodate.
The JAAA explained that after checking all available commercial routes, the earliest flight that could get Seville back to Miami would arrive after 12 p.m. next Tuesday, and the association could not guarantee an earlier return that would meet his contractual deadline. Following these negotiations, the association says Seville’s agent Norman Peart formally notified the JAAA last Tuesday of the sprinter’s decision to withdraw, and extended well wishes to the rest of the Jamaican team ahead of the competition. The JAAA added that it remains eager to see Seville represent Jamaica in future international competitions as a core member of the national team.
Peart has since confirmed that the JAAA’s official account of the withdrawal is fully accurate, adding that Seville is deeply disappointed to miss the chance to compete for his home country this weekend. “We had some challenges; we really worked hard to get this done but it couldn’t happen. The logistics coming out of Botswana just could not work. We’ve been at it for a while but it just couldn’t work,” Peart told the Jamaica Observer in an interview.
Peart stressed that there is no personal friction or public fallout between Seville and the JAAA leadership, calling the entire situation an unfortunate confluence of competing commitments. “We had our challenges but I must say the JAAA really went out of their way to see [if it could be resolved], but the timing and the whole logistics of getting back from Botswana is very challenging and could not work out because he had to get back to the United States — and it’s [something] he cannot miss,” Peart explained.
Seville, who claimed his first senior 100m world title at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, has never competed at a World Relays event. However, he was critical to Jamaica’s qualification for the 2023 World Championships last summer, helping the nation secure its slot at the London Diamond League meet after Jamaica failed to finish two qualifying races at the previous World Relays. At the Tokyo World Championships, Seville was part of Jamaica’s sprint relay team that missed out on a medal after dropping the baton during the heat rounds.
The JAAA has not yet announced whether it will name replacement sprinters for Seville and Thompson ahead of the travel window for the Botswana event. Even with the two absences, Jamaica’s 4x100m relay pool still boasts top 100m talents including Ackeem Blake, Rohan Watson and Kadrian Goldson, who will step into contention to secure the qualifying spot for Beijing next year.