Team Guyana take centre stage as Olympic Games open

Team Guyana were smartly decked out in Paris, France on Friday afternoon as they participated in the Parade of Nations, which preceded the official opening of the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
For the first time in the Games’ history, the Parade of Nations was hosted outside of a stadium, as the athletes sailed down the Seine River in Paris. For the event, Chelsea Edghill and Emanuel Archibald were Guyana’s flag-bearers.
Winding their way from east to west in the boat parade, the 10,500 athletes competing at the Games crossed through the centre of Paris, the overall playing field for the Games in which these competitors will display their sporting prowess over the next 16 days. The parade came to the end of its six-kilometre route in front of the Trocadéro, where the remaining elements of Olympic protocol and show took place.

Prior to Friday’s opening ceremony, athletes Aleka Persaud, Edghill, and Archibald, along with their coaches Idi Lewis, Sean Baksh and Mark Scott, participated in the Mulhouse high-performance training camp. The camp was arranged by Pan Am Sports and geared to aid the athletes in getting acclimatised to the French conditions. The Mulhouse training camp was held from July 14-21, 2024 for table tennis and swimming and July 22-29, 2024 for athletics.
The other two athletes, Raekwon Noel and Aliyah Abrams chose to undergo their final preparations with their coaches, Peter Holcroft and Alleyne Francique at their respective training venues in the USA.
With all members of the Guyanese delegation arriving in Paris, the athletes have commenced training with their respective coaches at the various competition venues.

Today, Edghill will be the first of the Guyanese contingent to go into competition mode. The former Caribbean champion and second-time Olympian is drawn in the first round against Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou and will compete at 15:00h Paris Time (09:00h local time) today. The table tennis tournaments at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run from July 27 to August 10 at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles venue.
Persaud begins her Olympic competition with the women’s 100m freestyle heats today, while her colleague Noel also hits the pool today, commencing his Olympic quest in the men’s 400m freestyle.
The swimming competitions at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are scheduled to run from July 27 to August 9, 2024 at the Paris La Défense Arena, Pont Alexandre III.
Meanwhile, Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games gold medallist and Pan Am bronze medallist Archibald gets into action on August 2, in the men’s 100m heats commencing at 17:50h Paris Time (11:50h Guyana time).
Abrams will later begin her Olympic quest on August 5 in the women’s 400m event, the heats for which will begin at 17:50h Paris Time (11:50h Guyana time).
The members of the Guyana Delegation to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are as follows:
Chef de Mission – Garfield Wiltshire
Team attaché/admin staff – Nalini Mc Koy
Physiotherapist – Vanessa Wickham
Table Tennis
Athlete – Chelsea Edghill
Coach– Idi Lewis

Athletics
Athlete (women’s 400m) – Aliyah Abrams
Athlete (men’s 100m) – Emanuel Archibald
Coach – Mark Scott
Swimming
Athlete (men’s 400m freestyle) – Raekwon Noel
Athlete (women’s 100m freestyle) – Aleka Persaud
Coach – Sean Baksh
Coach – Peter Holcroft
Attendance at International Olympic Committee, Commonwealth Games Federation, Pan Am Sport, OSESUR and other meetings:
GOA [Guyana Olympic Association] Executive President Godfrey Munroe
GOA Secretary General Vidushi Persaud-McKinnon
GOA Vice President Steve Ninvalle
GOA Vice President Cristy Campbell