RENOWNED motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, once said: “Success is steady progress toward one’s personal goals”. This applies to 13-year-old student-athlete, Atiya Thompson, who is steadily making progress towards her own goals in cycling.

Atiya, who is a second-form student at Brickdam Secondary School, copped two Gold medals at the recently concluded National Schools Cycling, Swimming and Track and Field Championships; her medals came in the U-14 800M and 1500M cycling races, respectively.
Representing North Georgetown (District 11); the outspoken Thompson told Chronicle Sport that it was back in 2017 when she first became interested in cycling.
Upon representing her district, she didn’t do so well that year in her special events: the 800M and 1500M races.

However, Atiya noted that due to her disappointing results, she vowed that she would do better in 2018, which is just what she did, with much satisfaction and gold medal rewards.
Quizzed about her preparations and routines, Atiya revealed that she trains within her community, Turkeyen, Sophia, most of the times, after school and in the mornings. Her commitment and discipline paid dividends, which she said, gave her even more motivation to do better and reach for more.

“This year I set myself the goal of winning at least one gold medal and I ended up with two (medals); last year I didn’t do very well. After placing fifth and eighth in my races, I was motivated a lot, thus, I put my all into training and I ended up making myself proud, my parents proud and I also won valuable points for my district.”

“My future goals are to become even more involved in cycling, this is something that I am passionate about, that I love, and I want to participate in more cycling events. Apart from cycling, I also have my sights set on bettering my performances in academics.”

Atiya credits her support system, which is made up of her parents, especially her father, Seon Thompson (a Guyana National Newspapers Limited employee) for her success. She explained that her father played a pivotal role in her success with his dedication to her training along with his invaluable advice.

Come 2019, Atiya expects to expand her events and better her medal tally; so cycling fans and enthusiasts, look out for this rising star.