THE Guyana Amateur Weightlifting Association (GAWA) has nominated overseas-based Howard Bovell for the Guyana Olympic Association’s Support for Sports and Sport Development Award.
Howard – at 75 years, still represents the Golden Arrowhead at the Masters Level.
General Secretary of GAWA is Deion Nurse.
‘He gave up competing for the USA as a Master to compete for Guyana and I think that’s the ultimate sacrifice because lifting or the US, everything was being paid for and representing Guyana he had to find his own money and I think that was a serious commitment.’
On his nomination, Bovell, who is currently in Guyana, said ‘it’s an honour.’
He wants to see the revival of the sport in Guyana. ‘It’s dropped off a lot from my time. In my time we had over 300 lifters in this country. I don’t see much of it these days, somebody needs to put some money into the sport.’
The father of eight has been contributing financially and materially to the local association since 1989 when he resumed competitive lifting.
With few gyms having competitive lifting, Bovell wants to set up a state-of-the art facility here, dedicated to weightlifting in a bid to revive the sport. He also wants to pay homage to those national notable lifters.
Mr. Bovell has his sights set on four competitions this year – the National Masters in April and Pan American Masters in June in Georgia, The World Masters in Texas and the American Open in November. He trains out of Maryland.
A pharmacist by profession – Howard was born in 1939 at No. 70 Village, Corentyne. He first competed in 1962 at the Novices Level and finished 2nd in his class the Featherweight (126lbs) class.
He would go on to study at Howard University in the USA. During this time he won a number of collegiate championships – among them the 1964 Best Lifter title at the Michigan State Championships and the D.C. AAU Championships and also put himself up for selection for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Sadly, his desire to represent Guyana at the event did not materialise because enough funding was not secured to ensure his participation.
Guyana did send one athlete – Martin Dias – the man who beat him at his first Novice Championship back in 1962. They both lifted in the same class and totaled 273kg. Dias however won by being a ¼ pound lighter on the day.
With work and family commitments, Howard was forced to take a break from the sport. When he did resume training, he competed under the Star Spangled banner of the USA, winning a number of medals, but with Guyana returning to international weightlifting competition in 1989, he decided to once again compete for the land of his birth.
In 2005 he won a silver medal at the World Masters in Canada in the 77kg class and Gold in the Pan American and Central American Championships on several occasions. Howard is also a Pan American Hall of Famer.
By LeeronBrumell