HIGH JUMPER Simon Phelan, who returned a winner from the Home International U20 competition in the UK at the weekend, is ineligible to compete for Jersey in the Commonwealth Youth Games later this year - because he doesn’t have a British passport.
The 18-year-old, who represented Jersey in the Island Games in the Isle of Man when he was just 16, and who turns out regularly for RBC Jersey Spartan and Channel Islands athletics teams, was born in the Republic of Ireland, where his family is from, and holds an Irish passport.
‘I’m devastated,’ Phelan said.
‘It was such a shock.
I’d had the okay to compete in the Youth Games (in Bendigo, Australia in November), and all my training, everything, has been geared to that for this year.
I was hoping to peak at those Games because they will be the last event of the season.’ Close to tears he added: ‘Now I won’t ever compete in a Commonwealth Games.’ Full report in today’s JEP.
Article posted on 12th August, 2004 - 12.00am
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