Dear Sir,

The following was addressed to Judy Simons, president of the Bermuda Olympic Association.

I have just learnt from some of my former Olympic colleagues that Madelyn Moore and Jesse Washington have been invited to participate in the Tokyo Olympics via a “wild card” system designed to assist and encourage young aspiring athletes, but that the BOA has declined to accept them as part of the Bermuda team.

In my capacity as an Olympian, former BOA board member, former member of the BOA standards committee and original chairman of Bermuda's Athletes Commission, I strongly encourage you to reconsider your position and allow these two young swimmers to join the Bermuda team.

I believe you are making an unnecessary and unfortunate error in not allowing this fortunate development to occur. Everyone understands that attending one’s first Olympics is a learning experience and that this can only lead on to better performances in any second Olympics, particularly in young athletes.

I could share numerous examples with you of occasions when Bermuda athletes were unfairly favoured or rejected and that these were all avoidable if just attitudes were only employed, but that can wait for another day. I fully appreciate that standards are standards, but the goal should always be to allow participation and in circumstances where special invitations are forthcoming they should not be shunned.

This is an appropriate time to remember Pierre de Coubertin's wise words: “Not to have won, but to have fought well”.

These two young Bermuda athletes will not let us down.

JAY KEMPE

Warwick