Fitness walk for 44th anniversary of Guyana’s lone Olympic medallist

SHOWERS until after 08:00hrs yesterday which resulted in a delay to the scheduled 07:30hrs start of the inaugural Fitness Walk from the Bank of Guyana to the Seawall Bandstand to celebrate the 44th anniversary of Parris’ Olympic bronze medal climaxed with the government presenting the boxer with a cheque for $1M.

A much smaller than anticipated turnout of walkers, escorted by police outriders, made their way under mostly overcast skies along Main Street with the 66-year-old Parris decked out in the actual national tracksuit that he wore in Moscow and proudly wearing the bronze medal around his neck to lead the procession holding the Golden Arrowhead.

The walkers, waving miniature Guyana flags included the young pugilists from the Pace and Power Boxing Gym, Guyana Boxing Association (GBA) Technical Director Terrence Poole, GBA’s president and
Guyana’s Director of Sport (DoS) Steve Ninvalle, national middleweight boxer Dennis Amsterdam, supporters
wearing Mike Parris T-shirts and Parris’ family members among others
At the Bandstand, where there were snacks and beverages available for the public, Ninvalle, on behalf
of Sport Minister Charles Ramson and the Guyana Government, presented the only boxer in the
Caribbean with an Olympic medal, with the cheque, while telling the gathering that on the 44th anniversary of Parris’ medal he was hopeful that the boxers will be joined by the medallists for the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

He informed participants that in honour of Parris’ achievement in Moscow, one of the local boxing tournaments is named after him.
National Sports Commission (NSC) member and President of the Guyana Tennis Association (GTA),
Cristy Campbell, said Parris is an inspiration for future athletes and not only boxers. She admitted she was not born when Parris won the bronze in 1980.

The Guyana Committee of Service (GCOS) provided tickets for the launching of their raffle at the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC )on Saturday at 19:00hrs to participants of the walk.

GCOS member and comedian Linden ‘Jumbie’ Jones asked Parris to pull a ticket number from a box and the owner of the ticket received a prize on the spot.

Parris told the gathering “It was very cold and freezing even though most of the Russians had said it
was a warm day for them. To get to Russia we had to travel to Jamaica then to Cuba and other countries
but we got to Russia early, before the competition
had started. I knew right away that I had to “acclimatise” myself to adjust to the conditions,”
continued Parris, who grew up in Princess Street, Lodge.
“Exercising at the training facilities was difficult, our breathing was being affected by the coldness. From that day I would stay in my hotel room and turn the air conditioner down to a colder [sic] temperature and start my training instead of going sightseeing.”

Parris told the gathering “It was very cold and freezing even though most of the Russians had said it
was a warm day for them. To get to Russia we had to travel to Jamaica then to Cuba and other countries
but we got to Russia early, before the competition had started. I knew right away that I had to
“acclimatise” myself to adjust to the conditions,”continued Parris who grew up in Princess Street,Lodge.

He added that he always followed his four ‘Ds…discipline, devotion, dedication and determination and pushed myself to become better every day.