Several Cayman Islands athletes returned home on Tuesday, 5 July, after recording personal best times and four podium places during the inaugural Caribbean Games, in Guadeloupe.
Representing Cayman were athletes competing in swimming, athletics and cycling.
Louis Gordon competed in the long jump event, and secured Cayman’s first medal on Friday, 1 July. Gordan jumped 7.23 metres, which earned him the silver medal.
“My performance wasn’t the best… but I was still able to medal,” Gordon told the Cayman Compass.
“People like Shakeina [Bush] and coach Carl [Morgan], of course… telling me I can do this; my will just grew and I gained a silver medal for my country. It felt good”
Fellow athlete Rasheem Brown would add another medal to Cayman’s tally, this time securing gold in the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.72 seconds, which will serve as the inaugural record for the games.
“My overall performance of the race was executed well from start to finish but the aim was to win and I did just that,” Brown told the Compass. “More importantly, I’m happy that I was able to earn my first senior gold medal.”
For Cayman’s swimmers, Kyra Rabess captured the Islands’ first medal when she hit the pool for the 800m freestyle on 1 July. Rabess earned silver, completing the race in 9:11.92.
She went on to contribute to yet another gold medal for Cayman in the 4x100m mixed free.
Rabess, along with James Allison, Corey Frederick-Westerborg and Alison Jackson claimed the top spot in a time of 3:46.45.
“I would say I’m happy with my performance considering I had to train through this meet,” Rabess told the Compass. “The level of competition was high, so I knew that I would have to work to try and get a placing, which paid off in the 800 freestyle.”
She added that she was really happy with the whole team’s performance.
Frederick-Westerborg also swam a personal best time in the 50m breaststroke, clocking 31.44 seconds.
“It was an amazing opportunity,” Frederick-Westerborg said. “It was my first chance to kind of prove myself at the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee level. When I was there, it was scary at first…but it was fun, it was competitive and I just didn’t want to stop swimming.”
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The CAC Games also had a 5K open water event in which Jasmine Lambert-Wragg came in 4th female. The sea was very rough and some did not finish the event. Jasmine commented it was the roughest open water she has ever competed in!