THE Commonwealth Games 2022, held in Birmingham, England, may have come to an end, but the fastidiousness, resilience a determination of the athletes who took part should long be remembered.
World and Games records were broken and many achieved their season or personal best as athletes ran, vaulted, jumped and otherwise performed their way through an exciting programme.

It was a pleasure to see Guyanese athletes take part alongside their counterparts from the Caribbean and countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and several from the African continent, with the full support of an enthusiastic crowd, who cheered everyone on.

An incredible amount of grit and fitness are required to even take part in 10 different track and field events.
Many eagerly watched the men’s 4×100 metres relay with the Guyanese team, which missed out on a medal but run the race of their lives.

One is particularly reminded of the saying: “It’s not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.” For, given the fact that Guyanese athletes do not enjoy the facilities, the sponsorship or the exposure of many of their fellow competitors, they are to be lauded for simply making it to such an auspicious sporting event.

Those who sit at home and watch on television, or who may be in the stands enjoying the various individual and group performances, have little idea of the mental and physical fortitude required of these athletes. We tend to judge their achievement by whether or not they won a medal, often ignoring the tremendous effort it took for them to even qualify for their national teams.

More than any other sporting event, the Commonwealth Games allows us to see those athletes who we would perhaps never see, like those from the Turks and Caicos Islands, The Bahamas, Swaziland, Botswana and Scotland, all showing their impressive physical abilities in a country that many had never visited before.

Some travelled from across the world, changing planes with luggage, sometimes uncertain of whether they would even get there on time. Many came from other sporting events, with very little time allowed for recuperation and others were taking part in this level of competition for the very first time.

So when athletes talk of stress and pressure we should listen, because ‘who feels It, knows it’ and you do not know how difficult a person’s journey may be until you have walked in their shoes – or run or jumped or swivelled – or otherwise experienced what these athletes do every day in preparation.

We are now hearing more and more about the psychological pressure to perform that has had many international sportsmen and women taking time off to safeguard their mental health.
Indeed fans and supporters expect their star team or player to win, not just ‘play the game’ or take part in the sport. Few realise the disappointments, injuries and rejections suffered by icons of the sport on the road to greatness, along with the strain of competition and the accompanying uncertainty and anxiety over their future in their chosen sport.

Tennis greats like Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Serena Williams can all attest to the blood, sweat and tears they spilled on their way to the top and champion sprinters like Usain Bolt, Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Dina Asher-Smith can talk at length of the grueling schedules and unrelenting practice sessions they endured.

So as the curtain came down on the largest Commonwealth Games – with a show that highlighted the wonderful diversity of its participants – we should have been appreciative of all who made it possible. But in particular, we should be generous in our praise for all those athletes who made the Games such a fine spectacle of physical and mental stamina.