GUYANA’S 100 metres champion, Emanuel Archibald, and his coach, Julian Edmonds, departed Guyana yesterday for the Island of Japan for the July 23–August 8 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Archibald, this year’s South American Senior Championships 100 metres silver medallist, will link up with sisters Aliyah and Jasmine Abrams, and will continue their journey for the 32nd Olympiad. Jasmine Abrams, who claimed bronze at the South American Senior Championships, and Archibald will be in action on July 31 in the men’s and women’s 100 metres.
Aliyah Abrams, the first Guyanese athlete, male or female, to qualify for the Olympic Games, will have another taste of Olympic competition on August 3, in the women’s 400 metres. This will be Aliyah’s second Games, having qualified and competed at the 2016 event in Rio, Brazil. Just this week, Archibald told Chronicle Sport that he’s focussed on taking it one step at a time in Tokyo. Archibald’s personal best in the distance is 10.22 seconds, set in 2018 in Kingston, Jamaica. He also clocked a wind-assisted 10.18 seconds to win Guyana’s senior Men’s 100 metres at the Athletics Association of Guyana’s (AAG) National Championships in June. Though representing Guyana at the Olympic Games in the 100 metres, Archibald is more versed and accomplished in the long jump, where he’s also the country’s National record-holder (8.12m). Boxer Keevin Allicock, table tennis star Chelsea Edghill, and swimmers Aleka Persaud and Andrew Fowler are the other athletes who will represent Guyana at the biggest global sporting event.