If Gerry Swan had his way, Brian Wellman would have had one of his Bermuda coaches with him at the recent World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

Such a move would have helped Wellman, who ended up finishing a disappointing eighth in the triple jump out of 13 athletes in the event. Swan believes Wellman and Troy Douglas -- Bermuda's other athlete competing at the World Athletics Championships -- were let down by the Bermuda Track and Field Association because none of their Bermuda coaches were with them in Germany.

Douglas was eliminated after the second round of the 400 metres event.

At the IAAF Gugl track and field meet in Linz, Austria yesterday, Wellman finished fourth in the long jump while Douglas also finished fourth in the 200 metres race.

"My position is most certainly that at any international competition there should be a coach there with our athletes,'' Swan said.

Wellman, who is apparently despondent over his eighth-place finish, spoke to Swan on the telephone the day following his jump and suggested that his biggest problem was dealing with the wind conditions at the stadium, a problem he believes was exacerbated by the absence of a Bermuda coach.

"I think he was hoping to jump better, but it was just one of those things,'' said Swan. "He had trouble with his run-up because the winds were changing quite a bit and eventually he fell 40 to 50 centimetres behind the leaders.'' Wellman's jump of 17.12 metres was far behind US Olympic champion Mike Conley who leapt 17.86 metres to capture the gold medal. Conley's jump was the longest of the year and 11 centimetres shy of the world record.

Conley, ironically, serves as Wellman's coach in the United States and that is precisely why the Bermuda Track and Field Association (BTFA) decided not to send one his his local coaches overseas.

"Brian and Troy have their own coaches travelling with them, and they are away from Bermuda 90 percent of the time,'' said BTFA president Philip Guishard yesterday.

"On the basis of two athletes who take their training and administration outside of Bermuda, to supervise them doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If Brian does feel a coach from Bermuda should have been with him in Germany, well, these are words of an athlete who has not done as well as he wanted to do.

"Besides, it simply would have been a joy ride for his Bermuda coach to be there, especially when Brian had his own coach there.

"How could a third party have helped him, especially when he had his own top expert (Conley) right there on the field with him, closer to him than any other coach could ever have been?'' Nevertheless, it remains Swan's intention to address the issue when the the BTFA meet early next month.

"I shouldn't say it's one of those unfortunate things, but we have a few world-class athletes, Brian, Troy and Nicky Saunders and all three of them do well on their own, so I guess the tendency is to think they don't need a coach with them,'' said Swan.

"Brian indicated to me he could have used some coaching, and the association knows my position on this. I haven't had a vacation with my family for a few years and wasn't planning to go, but I indicated to the BTFA committee that someone else should go, someone like Brian Dowling.'' Wellman was coming off solid recent performances at overseas meets and earlier this year at the World Indoor Track and Field championships in Toronto he finished fourth behind Nicolai Raev of Bulgaria and was eventually awarded the bronze medal when Raev tested positive for drugs and was stripped of the medal. At the Olympics in Barcelona last year he finished fifth and was sixth at the previous world championships in Tokyo -- all the more reason for him to be disheartened with an eighth place finish at Germany.

"Mr. Swan speaks of his own accord,'' said Guishard. "Look, we always have a coach present for our junior teams abroad, especially because it's a learning process for our young athletes where training and teaching is a necessary and continuous process. And we'll send coaches to most senior events, too. This wasn't a money factor. If anything, why didn't anyone ask us to subsidise the coaches who were already with our athletes overseas?'' Wellman, who was on his way to a meet at Gateshead, England, following yesterday's meet at Austria, was unavailable for comment yesterday. He will then return to the University of Arkansas and his studies.

BRIAN WELLMAN -- Bermudian finished a disappointing eighth at the World Athletics Championships in Germany.