Athletics: Leeroy Henriette gets IAAF scholarship |12 February 2014

Sprinter Leeroy Henriette left the country on Monday for Mauritius where he will be training at the island’s International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) High Performance Centre.

According to the Seychelles Athletics Federation (SAF), Henriette will be training in Mauritius until July under the IAAF scholarship programme.

While in Mauritius, Henriette will be able to fine-tune his talent ahead of a number of international events and at the same time attempt to qualify for IAAF competitions.

Henriette is the holder of the Seychelles 200m record of 21.10 seconds set in Botswana in June 2013 during the Confederation of Africa Athletics (CAA) Southern Region track and field championship.

He set his previous 1.4-second record on August 13, 2011 at Stad Popiler during the Indian Ocean Islands Games.

The ‘B’ scholarship programme has been initiated by IAAF present Lamine Jack. It enables African countries which do not have top world athletes and also countries which have never produced an athlete or qualified any for either World Championship or Olympic Games in the past few years to prepare athletes who have the potential but lack appropriate athletics environment to develop their competitive performance.
 
According to the IAAF website, athletes deemed to have a chance to achieve the ‘B’ standard in an event will be offered one of three programmes:

1. Short-term programme – Those who are close to the set ‘B’ standard objective could take part in short-term preparation, usually accompanied by their personal coach (one month duration).

 2. Medium-term programme – Designed for athletes who have the potential to achieve the ‘B’ Standard and need a better technical and environmental condition (three months duration).

3. Long-term programme – Young athletes (under 23) need longer time to achieve the ‘B’ standard therefore the IAAF is offering this programme (one, or more years duration).

In all three programmes, the IAAF ensures access to adequate facilities, coaching and competitions.