GOA President Godfrey Munroe (C), GOA Treasurer Godfrey Wiltshire, Coaches Julian Edmonds and Shyka Gonzalves, Team Manager Nalini McKoy and Physiotherapist Vanessa Wickham are flanked by athletes who will be representing Guyana at the Youth Commonwealth Games
Athletics and Swimming will be the two sport disciplines seeing competition from Guyanese junior athletes, when the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games commences next Friday, August 4th in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Guyanese contingent will comprise 8 athletes and 5 officials. For the athletics team, South American U20 record holder and CARIFTA Champion Tianna Springer (400M), CARIFTA medalists Attoya Harvey (800M, 1500M), Javon Roberts (800M, 1500M), Narissa McPherson (400M, 800M) and Malachi Austin (200M, 400M) will compete under the watchful eye of Coach Julian Edmonds.
For swimming, Ariel Rodrigues (50M Backstroke, 200M Freestyle, 50M Butterfly, 100M freestyle, 50M freestyle), Shareefah Lewis (50M backstroke, 50M breaststroke, 100M freestyle, 50M freestyle), and Elliot Gonsalves (200M freestyle, 400M freestyle, 200M individual medley, 400M individual medley) will hit the pool. They are accompanied by Coach Shyka Gonsalves.
The team will be accompanied Dr Victor Allen, Physiotherapist Vanessa Wickham, and Team Manager Nalini McKoy.
Athletes representing Guyana are, from Left: Narissa McPherson, Attoya Harvey, Javon Roberts, Malachi Austin, Tianna Springer, Elliot Gonsalves, Ariel Rodrigues and Shareefah Lewis
During a press briefing on Saturday morning at the Guyana Olympic Association’s (GOA) Liliendaal Headquarters, Coaches Julian Edmonds and Shyka Gonsalves spoke on their respective team’s preparation and expectations.
“I am satisfied with the preparation. As a matter of fact, all of the athletes would have competed yesterday at the Police Annual Sports Championship, just sharpening up for their races,” Edmonds noted.
The renowned athletics Coach further stated, “At the last games, apart from Boxing getting a silver medal, we would have also had two finalists in the 100M in Kenisha Phillips and Onasha Rogers. So, we’re expecting to go a step better. As I said, we would’ve learned and we would’ve had 4 years to prepare. Athletics is on the rise in Guyana, and the athletes have been developing steadily.”
Coach Gonsalves said about the Swimming team, “Their training has been going well. As I said, they’re different types of swimmers, so where the girls have been sprinting shorter distances, Elliot would have been sprinting longer distances. So, they’ve been working hard, training and all-round having fun with what they do.
“We expect them to try their best, do extremely well, and have fun all at the same time,” the Swim Coach added.
Meanwhile, GOA Treasurer Garfield Wiltshire explained why Guyana will be competing in only 2 of the 7 sport disciplines at the Youth Games.
“As indicated, there were 7 sports. The sports were swimming, athletics, beach volleyball, fast netball, road cycling, track cycling, Rugby 7s and triathlon. You can see from those sports athletics and swimming are the sports we would’ve been able to best compete in. We did apply to see if we could be accommodated in Rugby, as a team sport, but that application was not accepted because they would’ve gone on rankings of Rugby teams around the Commonwealth,” Wiltshire informed.
GOA President Godfrey Munroe also had some words of encouragement for the athletes, stating, “These games are multidisciplinary games and it allows you as young athletes to start venturing into the Olympic cycle. I know some of you have had experience, but as most of the coaches alluded to, it’s an opportunity to shine and measure yourself against the best athletes in the world. And also compete and do well.”
The Commonwealth Youth Games ae set to conclude on Friday, August 11th. Additionally, Tianna Springer and Elliot Gonsalves will be Guyana’s flagbearers at the Games. (Jemima Holmes)
