Tokyo Olympics: Hutson contented with 3-person athletics team

By Jemima Holmes
On Friday, word got around that two track athletes will be added to Guyana’s Tokyo-bound contingent for the Olympic Games. Emanuel Archibald will be suiting up for the men’s 100m sprint event while Jasmine Abrams will do the same on the distaff side, and Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) President Aubrey Hutson is quite proud of their achievement.
“I’m happy for all of them, you know very, very happy, very elated.”
He continued jokingly, “And we at the AAG and [Guyana Olympic Association] GOA would have spent, you know, quite a bit of money, facilitating these athletes to go to the South American Championship, and begin earning some more points for themselves.”

Abrams, who qualified via ranking, will attend the Games alongside her sister, Aliyah, who will be competing in the 400m race.
As the AAG President sees it, Jasmine’s hard work has paid off.
“Jasmine Abrams has been working very, very hard; looking at every possible competition she can go to qualify, because she understands the system of qualification. Even though you may not hit the qualifying standard; once again, enough points to be considered among the top number of athletes in our event she was going to eventually qualify,” the athletics boss shared.
Hutson recalled breaking the news to the young athlete, saying, “So, I was tracking it all the time on the app, that was when I got the news that Jasmine would have gotten in there, because of her standards or points.
“When I passed it on to her, she was very elated and you know happy, that it worked out with all the time that she invested in trying to get there.”
In the case of Linden’s Emanuel Archibald, a universality spot came into play following his failure to hit the qualifying standard in the 100m and long jump events.
Huston had this to say about his journey: “As it relates to Emanuel Archibald, seeing that we did not have a male qualifier, early in the season, we were given the option to put Archibald, or any male athlete, into the 100 metres.”
The AAG boss explained, “The problem with it is that once we elect him as a universality athlete, it creates a little bit of issue for us, as it relates to him qualifying for the long jump, you know via his ranking, the way Jasmine would have been able to qualify in the ranking system.
“So, we decided to take the chance and we did accept the universality spot and lo and behold, he did not make the ranking for the long jump. So, it is a good thing that we did what we did when we did it,” a relieved Hutson disclosed.
Although the three representatives from the athletics discipline is a downgrade from the five-member team in Rio de Janeiro at the 2016 Olympics, Hutson is still contented.
He noted that a finals placement would put the cherry on top.
“I’m contented with that, because – I mean – going into these Olympics we only had one, you know, while we were trying as hard as the administration could, basically it is reliant on the athlete of themselves, taking us, you know we can do so much for them. But when it comes to qualification is what the athletes can do for themselves, and this association in the country at large,” Hutson confided.
He added, “We did not have the number of athletes that we were projecting to have going into these Olympics. So, my charge to the athletes now is to make it, even though it’s not a larger team, we want better results. We want better-quality performances. So, we’re hoping that all of our athletes, all three of them make it to the finals, which will be a new high for the Athletics Association.”
“And we must applaud the effort of every athlete who attempted to qualify for Tokyo, bearing in mind that we are coming out of this whole COVID pandemic situation, which, you know, did not present itself in Rio… “
“So, I’m kind of contented with…understanding the circumstances,” Hutson asserted.
Archibald and Abrams join five other Guyanese who will compete at the Tokyo Games – Chelsea Edghill (table tennis); Andrew Fowler (swimming); Aleka Persaud (swimming – yet to be confirmed by GASA); Keevin Allicock (boxing) and Aliyah Abrams (athletics). The Tokyo Summer Olympics, rescheduled from 2020, is slated for July 23- August 8.