All the sports organisations under
the Olympic umbrella met for their annual general meeting at the Marriott Hotel
followed by a sumptuous buffet and the occasion was also the ideal opportunity to
celebrate the achievements of Cayman’s track and field fraternity, particularly
golden girl Cydonie Mothersill.
It has been another eventful year
in sports, capped last month by Mothersill claiming a Cayman first by winning
the Commonwealth 200 metres gold in Delhi. A brilliant run executed perfectly
as she grabbed her first major tournament gold medal in style in 22.89 seconds,
winning by three metres ahead of England’s Abiodun Oyepitan (23.26secs) and
Canada’s Adrienne Power (23.52secs). Cydonie added this to the world championships
bronze medal she won in 2001 amongst the many others she has collected along
the way.
The evening was hosted by Donald
McLean, president of the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee, who has seen the
32-year-old sprinter battle through many injury problems over the years to
finally snatch a big one. The golden girl was there for the accolades and she
also received more cheques for her achievements to add to the $5,000 win bonus
the government gave her at a Heroes Square celebration in her honour, plus the
gold Lake Tahoe SUV generously given by Advanced Automotive.
McLean said that a year ago he went
to Delhi for an inspection and they hadn’t even begun building the swimming
pool but by the start of the Games the venues were first class. He added that
the athletes’ village was of a good standard but not quite completed. “After
the village was cleaned three or four times it was habitable,” he laughed. “The
village food was excellent thought, at times better than in the official hotel.”
Cayman had four teams in India –
athletics, swimming, shooting and squash.
Jon Rankin, the world class
middle-distance runner, was at the dinner on Thursday. He used to run for the
US where he was born and came sixth at the last Olympic Games two years ago.
Only the first three are selected for the American team and as Rankin’s parents
are Caymanians he has gained citizenship here to compete for Cayman. He did
well in Delhi, getting to the semis in the 800m. Rankin set national records in
the 800m and 1500m in Delhi. He has great ambitions for next year to bring more
glory to the Cayman Islands. Track athletes at the dinner who also performed
well this year included David Hamil, Robert Ibeh, Ronald Forbes and Carl
Morgan.
Marlene West is now competing in
squash for Cayman after years of flying the flag for Jamaica. Puma were the kit
sponsors in Delhi for the 17 athletes and 12 officials. Lara Butler and Seigi
Groome were the swimmers at the inaugural Youth Olympics in Singapore along
with sailor Elizabeth Wauchope. Heather Roffey, who until a couple of years ago
was swimming competitively for Cayman having gone to the Olympics in 2004, was
the chef de mission at the Youth Olympics.
The long list of corporate sponsors
was read out by McLean for which he is deeply grateful for their support. He
emphasised that the government remains the chief sponsor of sport in Cayman and
is thankful for its funding of elite athletes Mothersill, Ronald Forbes, Shaun
Fraser, Michael Letterlough and Charles ‘The Killa’ Whittaker. The Morgan
twins, Carl and Carlos, also receive some government funding.
McLean highlighted the fact that at
the Vancouver Winter Olympics in February, the giant slalom skier, Dow Travers,
became the first Caymanian to compete in the Winter Games. Travers did well to
finish high up the field and hopes are that he will qualify for the next Games
in 2014.
Special Olympics athletes Cindy
Whittaker and Andrew Smillie competed for Cayman too at a Pan American event in
Puerto Rico.
Chantelle Morrison may be only 16
but for years she has been hailed as the next Cydonie. That was confirmed when
she won 100m gold at the CARIFTAS held here at Easter.
Seven medals were won by Caymanians
at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico in the summer. Cydonie
got 200m gold, Carlos Morgan won long jump bronze, the squash pairing of Myron
Blair and Alex Frazer won bronze and the swimming Frazer brothers got two
apiece.
In the 200 metre freestyle, Shaune
grabbed gold and Brett pushed his big brother all the way to finish just
behind. It was a marvellous finale for the Frasers after Shaune took bronze in
the 100m freestyle earlier in the week and then Brett won silver in the 200m
backstroke.
The London 2012 Scholarship, funded
by the Olympic Solidarity Federation, is now paying US$1,000 a month for two
years until the London Games and five athletes qualified; Mothersill, Hyman,
the Frasers and Forbes.
Sports minister Mark Scotland gave
a speech, the highlight of which he said sports can be used to build societies
and more children in sport will reduce getting into trouble and decrease
anti-social behaviour and also increases the pool at grassroots level. He
praised Cydonie again which prompted another standing ovation. Scotland said
that he hopes to host a track meet next year in honour of Mothersill and plans
to host more events which will help attract extra sponsorship. He paid tribute
to McLean and the fine work the Olympic Committee has done and also praised the
many volunteers, officials and parents who support the cause. Ever the joker,
McLean piped up: “You won’t get a cheque for that!”
“Cayman is still young in sports
development,” Scotland said. “But we have made great strides this year.” It has
indeed been a vintage year and it looks like 2011 may top that.
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