GUYANA will be represented by seven athletes at the Tokyo Olympics, which starts on Friday, and here at Chronicle Sport, we will be giving the casual sport fans some insights, profile and some background information on those talented Guyanese in Japan.
Today, we’ll start with the youngest athlete to ever represent Guyana, even going back to British Guiana, at the Olympic Games – Aleka Persaud.
Dating back to 1948, Guyana competed at 17 Olympic Games; five of those were under British Guiana.
The first swimmer, male or female, to represent Guyana at the Olympics was Linden’s Onan Thom. He was 20 years old at the time.
Najuma Fletcher, Guyana’s women’s National high jump record holder (1.90m) was 18 years old when she competed in the Women’s High Jump at the 1992 Games in Barcelona.
When 15-year-old Aleka Persaud enters the pool on Friday, July 30 in the women’s 50m freestyle, she will become the youngest-ever athlete to feature for Guyana at the Olympic Games.
Persaud is among the best swimmers in the Caribbean in her age group, and in 2019, she claimed gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle and 100m butterfly at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships.
Along with Andrew Fowler, she received FINA’s Universality spot to dive into action with the best swimmers in the world.