Cayman’s Youth Olympic team is competing at the second staging of the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China, this week.
Cayman is being represented by five athletes in athletics, equestrian, gymnastics and sailing.
The delegation is pleased with the organization and efficiency of the Games so far and have all done well to adjust to the time change and weather in Nanjing.
The opening ceremony on Saturday was breathtaking. The precision of all the performers was remarkable despite the constant rain throughout. During the parade of 204 nations, sailor Florence Allan carried the flag for Cayman.
The first event for Cayman was the women’s all-around artistic gymnastics. Morgan Lloyd competed on Monday, achieving personal best results in the floor exercise and the vault.
Lloyd’s all around score of 41.250 points is also a personal best, a substantial improvement from her previous best of 39.334.
The sailing competition also began on Monday. It was a tough day with little wind to work with. In the men’s byte CII, Pablo Bertran placed 19th in race 1 and 27th in race 2.
In the Women’s byte CII races, Florence Allan placed ninth and 25th, respectively. With day one complete, the sailors are eager for better wind speeds in the nine races remaining in the competition.
Polly Serpell is riding Georgio Zan, an 8-year-old Belgium warm-blood horse, in the equestrian events. The Continental team jumping events were on Tuesday.
Riders from Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic are also representing North America with Cayman.
The team event is being held on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the individual jumping event is on Saturday and Sunday.
Pearl Morgan will be running the 200-meter heats on Friday, which start from 8:35 p.m. Cayman time.
In addition to the individual event, Morgan was part of a mixed 8x100m relay set for Tuesday.
Training has been going well at the village tracks. Training sessions were to commence at the Olympic stadium on Tuesday, with a focus on starts and adjusting to the stadium environment.
In addition to training and competition, all the athletes attending the Youth Olympic Games participate in a number of cultural and educational programs, gaining knowledge and skills in a variety of areas, including healthy cooking, environmental protection, digital media, agriculture and the Olympic journey.
Jade Webster was sent to Nanjing to take part in the Young Reporters program. Webster describes her experience as, “one word, amazing!”
Webster says she has been a part of a program much more than she can ever imagine.
In the first few days, Webster has written athletic profiles on past Olympians, attended guest speaker sessions with the president of the International Olympic Committee and represented the Young Reporters program at a press conference, where she spoke about her passion of becoming a better journalist.
This week she is attending intensive training courses in all fields of journalism, including magazine editorials, broadcast, text and social media, with mentors from around the world, including CCN journalist Tracey Holmes, photographer Nick Didlick and head of the International Olympic Committee media operations, Anthony Edgar.
Webster is staying at the Youth Olympic village with the athletes. Normally journalists would not be allowed to stay in the village, so this is a rare and fortunate opportunity.
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