Guyana’s 4x400M team was only one of the major highlights in Guyana’s 2024 CARIFTA Games campaign
Guyana’s successful CARIFTA Games 2024 team returned home to a glorious welcome at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) on Tuesday afternoon, as stakeholders, family members, fellow athletes and other well- wishers celebrated their feat of securing 8 medals: 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.
Among the big players gathered to greet the CARIFTA Team were Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. and Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) President Amanda Hermonstine, who both hailed the team’s achievement of the most gold medals earned by Guyana at one outing.
Hermonstine shared during brief remarks at the welcoming ceremony, “I’m very honoured to stand before you to say that our athletes have done us proudly. We have been competing at these games for 51 years now, and we have been winning all the time. This would’ve been our largest contingent of 23 athletes, and our largest gold medal haul.”
Sport Minister Ramson Jr went on to highlight the magnitude of the team’s accomplishment in Grenada over the Easter weekend, citing it as a justification for Government’s continued investment in sport.
“Significantly, though, we were able to succeed in the speed or sprint races, which hitherto to many, many decades ago we were not able to break that barrier. So, it says to us from the Government’s side, and it justifies the investment that we are making in sport,” the Sport Minister shared.
He added, “And when you win these races and wear these bits of metalwork around your chest and put it up in your home, you’re putting it up not just in your home, you’re putting it up in every single home in this country. We live our lives vicariously through yours.”
As such, Ramson Jr. spoke of the young athletes’ potential and his hopes for their success on the international stage.
“The fact that Guyana has been able to succeed now in the sprint disciplines, beating the dominant, and rightfully so, rightfully respected, Jamaica. The fact that we were able to do that, it’s no small accomplishment, and I’m confident that among this group and on these shores, Guyana has its very first Olympic Track and Field medal,” Ramson Jr. remarked.
“We have to start planning and training from now. I’m confident about that, and no one can tell me that we don’t have the talent pool. What we just didn’t have is the collective vision and effort to achieve that objective,” he further stated.
While Tianna Springer (Gold – U20 400M), Malach Austin (Gold – U20 400M), Athaleyha Hinckson (Gold – U17 100M, Silver – U17 200M), Kaidon Persaud (Silver – U17 800M) and Attoya Harvey (Bronze – U20 3000M) were able to excel in their individual events, Guyana also picked up two medals, gold and bronze in the 4x400M Mixed Relay and 4x400M Boys’ U20 Relay respectively.
