Preparation and execution gave Suriname the edge in swimming

By Akeem Greene

Suriname produced a dominant display at Inter Guiana Games (IGG) to walk away with the overall title at the National Aquatic Centre, Lilliendaal on Sunday but the success came as result of hard work.
The Surinamese amassed 268 points in the 24-event meet while Guyana swam away with 195 points after surrendering many of their races despite enjoying home advantage.
Coach of the Suriname team Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw disclosed that the team which was in training since mid September succeeded due to preparation and execution.
“Preparation first and then execution by the athletes, we knew it would be very hard for us participating in all the events because it is back to back, nevertheless we were physically and mentally prepared to execute our plans,” the Surinamese stated.
Only two Guyanese (Hannibal Gaskin and Jadyn George) were able to secure gold medals in the day’s events which exemplifies the dominance of Suriname but coach was quizzed on how he planned to contain Guyana’s Olympian Hannibal Gaskin.
“We knew it would very competitive and challenging but we still stick to our plans, it didn’t matter which swimmer it was since there  were also female  races but if you cannot compete against the other swimmers compete with yourself and  better your personal  times” the coach responded saying.

The Surinamese coach also stated that he has plans to improve the level of intensity of swimming in Suriname because “Our swimmers do not like to swim in the sun and it is very important to swim in different temperatures because when you go to the bigger games like CARIFTA and World Champions, it may have varying temperatures.”
He added, “also learn to swim  multiple events  not just one and two and then have the day off at times, some our swimmers were not mentally and physically ready  to swim the multiple events and  then had to go prepare for the other  event”.
Meanwhile, Gaskin produced some sparkling performances in the presence of his father, Minister of Business Dominic Gaskin.
The 18-year-old who represented the country at this year’s RIO Olympic Games,  stamped his authority winning Gold in all four of his individual races, 200m IM (2:23:26s), 100m Butterfly (1:00:56s), 50m Butterfly (27:12s) and 100m Freestyle (56.85s) but had to  settle for Silver in his two relays (200M IM  and 200m Freestyle).
Quizzed on his impression of the performance, he bluntly stated, “I feel good, I trained hard for this meet, it was okay.”
Called the country’s golden boy by some in the fraternity, the swimmer stated that the fame does not pressure him in any way.
I guess it something I’m accustomed to, you can’t really keep your head on that, you just have to focus on the race at hand,” Gaskin said.
The Olympian, who hopes to attend the Tokyo Games said that his next international engagement will be a meet in Canada in December and he will be using the opportunity to practice different race strategies to see which works for him.