… if Guyana is to bring home medals

NOTING an improved attitude in the government’s approach to sports, President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), K. A. Juman Yassin, reiterated that Guyana cannot keep expecting Olympic medals when”we will still do not sufficiently invest in our athlete.”“When you see Guyana not winning a medal at the Olympics,do not be surprised, do not throw stones, because unless you invest you will not get the returns.
“I am happy and elated to say that I have seen that there is a change in the mood and approach of the government.
“Minister Nicolette Henry has indicated that the government intends to invest in its athletes and coaches; I am going to put her to the test,and I am waiting to see how soon.”Yassin said.
Yassin was at the time speaking at a press briefing at Olympic House,yesterday.He was reporting on Guyana’s performance at the recently concluded Rio Olympics, where Guyana was represented by a team of four athletes and two swimmers,at the end of which they again returned without ending our medal drought at the quadrennial event.
Representing Guyana were athletes Troy Doris (men’s triple jump),Winston George (men’s 400), Brenessa Thompson (women’s 100m, 200), Aaliyah Abrams (women’s 400m), and swimmers Hannibal Gaskin (men’s 100m butterfly) and Jamila Sanmoogan (women’s 50m freestyle).
The government,through the Minister responsible for sport, Nicollette Henry, recently congratulated and praised the Olympians at a function held in their honour; an occurrence that Yassin noted was the first in a long time, if not the first ever.
Refering to Great Britain,the Rio Olympics second highest medal recipient,Yassin pointed to the kind of backing which that country confers to sports overall, and to its athletes directly, contrasting it against Guyana’s sports landscape, where many of our athletes are either ‘part time’ or merely volunteers.
“The reason that Great Britain was so successful was because of the investment that they have made now and in the past.
“They have allocated funds in order to get the best coaches in the world. They were able to get the best coaches from around the world, they were able to pay their athletes an allowance to work fulltime,(while) our athletes and coaches are part time, some of them are not even part time, some are just volunteers.” Yassin asserted.
Also present at the meeting were Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) president, Aubrey Hudson, and President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association, Ivan Persaud, as well as the Olympic team’s Chef-de-Mission, Garfield Wiltshire, and coach of the swimming team, Paul Mahaica.
Wiltshire pointed out that it must be kept in mind that, with the exception of George, all of the athletes on the team were first timers, and this may have been somewhat daunting for the athletes, coupled with other conditions surrounding their performances; particularly in the case of college athletes Thompson and Abrams. Nonetheless, he asserted that they showed potential as strong future contenders.
“Even though some of the athletes, their times were not of their best, there’re several factors that could have contributed to that.Firstly, they were running at almost 10:40 at night and the first two nights were extremely cold;and for athletes to come appearing before 80, 000 on the big stage for the first time, some persons may say that they froze, but it was young college athletes and they could only get better for the future; this was their first time on the big stage.” He explained.
Both Hudson and Persaud said that they will now be looking towards Tokyo 2020 for young Olympians, while Hutson also noted that he is also focusing on the 2017 IAAF World Championships.