Cheers of appreciation and encouragement erupted in the Arrivals Section of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport late last evening, as parents, relatives and officials gathered to welcome home Guyana’s most successful CARIFTA Track and Field team.
The 2019 CARIFTA Track and Field Team along with DoS Christopher Jones, AAG President Aubrey Hutson, and other officials.
Hugs and kisses were the preferred mode of communication just after 11pm on Wednesday, when the athletes were met by their parents, peers and mentors.
The local contingent, comprising of twenty-one athletes, returned to Guyana with 9 medals: four gold, two silver and three bronze medals — the highest ever recorded by a Guyanese CARIFTA team.
Speaking with Guyana Times Sport, bronze medallist Princess Browne shared that she did not expect such a welcome.
“I’m very excited, very thankful for the medal, because I think I deserved it. And everyone else (deserved theirs) because I think they worked really hard as well. I was surprised, I was not expecting so many people to come out and support us,” Brown said amidst broad smiles.
An emotional Anisha Gibbons, who made Guyana for the first time in history cop the U17 Javelin gold, was lost for words at the reception and at her achievement.
“Well, I kept my focus, and I’m very happy. (These are) tears of joy, I don’t know what to say,” Gibbons said between tears.
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana, Aubrey Hutson, oozed gratitude to those who had contributed to the athletes’ success.
“This is the best we’ve ever done. We continue to invest our time, our energy, and whatever little resources we have to continue to send athletes out there to compete. Note, I said compete, and not participate, because we’re at that level where we’re competing now. And I think the hard work of the AAG, the coaches, the athletes, the parents, and the few in the private sector that believe in us (has paid off). We just want to say, ‘Thank you very much’,” he declared.
With the athletes’ future on his mind, Director of Sport Christopher Jones pledged his commitment to ensuring that successful athletes are given opportunity to further their studies through university scholarships.
“Our cause as the National Sports Commission is to continue to press the Honourable Minister Dr. George Norton and the Government to continue the investment in sport, because we realise (that) to keep the athletes in their pursuit of sport, we have to invest in their education,” Jones stated.
The eighteen athletes who are locally based, along with six from swimming and fourteen from Chess, are expected to be officially honoured by the Ministry of Social Cohesion with Responsibility for Sport.
