Winston George or Daniel Williams?
Winston George (left) and Daniel Williams
Winston George (left) and Daniel Williams

AAG, GOA to deliberate on composition of Commonwealth Games Track and Field team

WITH the Commonwealth Games set for April 4-15 in the Gold Coast, Australia, the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) could ‘bump heads’ over the composition of the track and field team.

The AAG recently submitted a 20-man shortlisted squad which features some of brightest youth prospects, with the likes of Daniel Williams, Chantoba Bright, Compton Caesar and the Hooper sisters (Natrena and Patricia) making the cut.
However, the AAG was only given five places on the team, with president Aubrey Hudson telling Chronicle Sport in an exclusive interview that “this is going to be difficult, because the AAG will have to make a big decision: if we will look to invest in the future of track and field, or, look to the older athletes and try to medal now.”

The only automatic selection is US-based triple-jump athlete Troy Doris, according to Hudson. Meanwhile, president of the GOA, KA Juman Yassin, told Chronicle Sport that the final selection of the Commonwealth Games team rests on the shoulders of the Olympic Association.
“We will allow them (the AAG) to make their selection and then if we agree, then we move from there. We will have to agree with their selection, but it’s too early to make up the team,” said the GOA’s long-serving president.

Some pundits believe that both the AAG and the GOA should explore the idea of giving the country’s top youths a chance to shine at the Commonwealth Games, especially the case for Williams and Caesar who could be competing for a spot on the team with George.

The 30-year-old George has competed at two Olympic Games (2012 and 2016) as well as three world Championships (2013, 2015 and 2017) but never made it out of the qualifying rounds at those events (except the 2017 World Championship where he reached the semi-finals of the 200M).

George also competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where he reached the semi-finals of the 200m and 400 metres. He runs a personal best of 45.16 seconds in the 400m, 10.24 seconds in the 100m and 20.41 seconds in the 200m; accomplishing the times this year (July) at the Leonora Track and Field Centre.
Williams, the 17-year-old from Linden, at this year’s IAAF World U-18 Championships ran a personal best of 46.7 seconds in the 400m to win silver, and at the 2016 CARIFTA Games, he ran 21.56 seconds in the 200m.

However, Williams is 13 years younger than George and has shaved almost two seconds off his 400m times in less than a year. Internationally, especially in South America, he has racked up a number of podium finishes in the 200m, 400m and high jump.
Caesar is 19 years old and ran his personal best in the 200m (21.91 seconds) in 2015 and this year, he clocked 10.37 seconds in the 100m at Leonora.

“The Council will have to make a tough call,” Hutson said, when asked about if they will give Williams and Caesar a shot ‘down under’, or if they will turn to Winston George who has not won a medal outside of the ALBA Games (2011) and the South American Senior Championships (2017).

“We’re going to have to decide if we will go for medals or go for building the future of the sport. We might have to come up with some balancing act, because it’s important that we give our young athletes the exposure, because they’re been going out and giving us many medals,” said Hudson.

“We’ve really gone past where we used to be years ago. But people will ask us; how do you justify Daniel Williams over Winston George? But for me, I’m thinking futuristically and that will have to be the key.

“We will be taking into factor that we have to look at our youngsters, a lot of the senior athletes have been over their peak. George is still running 45 seconds, but the 400m has gone past that. You might be able to get a 43 seconds out of Daniel next year because he seems to be stepping up faster with higher competition according to his progression over the last year,” the AAG president explained.

“If we are selecting a team for today, our best athlete is Winston George, but if we’re thinking about tomorrow, then we will have come up with something else, because we’ve sent George to many games and he’s not getting a chance to podium, but with Williams, we might not get a medal out of him now, but certainly will in the future,” Hudson pointed out.

Yassin, when asked about giving a youth athletics team a try said, “Let’s see, I mean the young athletes have plenty more time, but it’s still too early to make that call, so I’ll wait on the AAG and see what they present, but the final decision rests with the GOA.”

Next year’s Commonwealth Games will present the GOA and the AAG the perfect opportunity to redeem themselves after years of failing some of Guyana’s best with the lack of exposure when they were young.

The eyes of Guyana will be paying keen attention of the team’s selection, since it could tell a story about the two entities’ readiness to properly embrace and mould the country’s future stars of track and field.

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