SHE’S a national athlete, a CARIFTA Games multiple silver medallist, and South American Youth Championships bronze medallist, not to mention Inter-Guiana Games gold medallist, and gold medal performances at the National Schools Championships last month. And she accomplished all of this just this year. It was indeed a busy year for sixteen-year-old Chantoba Bright, who was among the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) choice-pick junior athletes to represent Guyana at internationally events throughout this year.
Always an athletics nucleus, Bright is just another of the many promising athletics prospects that the Linden community continues to churn out. Bright specialises in the long and triple jumps.
The Mackenzie High student is very proud of how far she’s come since she decided to take up sports three years ago. More so because she has accomplished jumping over 6 metres in the long jump, a personal best for her, and the best female jump that Guyana recorded for the year. Bright achieved this when she cleared 6.09m at the National Seniors Championships in June.

“It was a big accomplishment for me! I haven’t been in sports for that long; it’s just been about three years that I’ve been training, so to accomplish this, to jump over the 6m barrier, it was great. I felt proud of myself, and glad that I could make my coach proud of me, because we worked hard.” Bright said of the experience.
This year marked the first year that Bright performed at international events, and it was another thing to be proud of when she was able to medal. Bright made her international debut at the CARIFTA Games back in March. Despite somewhat apprehensive of what to expect when she left, she gave a good showing for herself winning silver medals in the long jump and triple jump events.
“It was my first international meet and so I had no idea what I was going to do, I had no idea what to expect, but I had to remain confident and remember that I was really prepared, because I worked hard. So I just went out there and did my best,” Chantoba related.
Indeed she has come a long way from when her Physical Education teacher on a whim suggested that she should start jumping in 2013. In that same year her performance was enough to see her make the Linden team to the National Schools Championships, which was an eye-opener for Bright.
Impressing herself at how good she was she decided to take jumping seriously, found a coach and joined a club. Bright is a part of the Upper Demerara Schools Athletics Track Club currently coached by Johnny Gravesande, who says when it comes to Bright that’s just one athlete who’s always, always willing and determined, never missing a day of practice.
Bright was the only athlete selected to represent Guyana at the World Juniors this year.. Unfortunately due to logistical issues she never got to go. Nonetheless there was still a lot of action left for her. She medalled gold at the Tri-nation IGG in October, and then went to Argentina in November for the SAYC for bronze. The SAYC was another chance for international exposure for Bright.
Notwithstanding the adverse climate conditions of Argentina, Bright medalled in long jump with a distance of 5.96m. At Nationals it was more gold medals as she played a role in helping the Upper Demerara/Kwakwani, District 10 team reach their 15th win at the Championships.
Next year is also shaping up to be another promising year for Bright, who was most recently announced as being part of an elite athletics squad selected by the National Sports Commission. Bright is looking forward to increasing her skills and perhaps even being a Olympic prospect when 2020 rolls around.