Throughout June, the Cayman Compass will be publishing a series on Caymanians who first represented their beloved isles on the grandest stage of sports – ultimately paving the way for all those who came after, including the line-up heading to this year’s Paris Olympics.
Among the Hollywood stars and elite athletes at the 1984 Olympics was a 17-year-old Caymanian cyclist by the name of Craig Merren, who was keen to race under the scorching summer sun in Los Angeles.
Merren was one of six cyclists representing Cayman for the first time in that sport at the Olympics.
“I was never really good at any other sport. Everyone else was going spearfishing and playing football,” Merren told the Compass.
And so, his journey to the Olympics began with a love and passion for customising BMX bicycles with his brother Perry, after getting ideas from magazines. From there, the Merren brothers were known through the ‘70s in George Town for racing the school bus on their bikes in the mornings, which “brought in the girls”, and through bush trails.
“We would race on Walkers Road, where I grew up… We had trails in Windsor Park before it was developed,” Merren said, noting that it was pure bush with mango and guinep trees – the fruits of which they enjoyed.
“At the time, the cycling association wasn’t formed; it didn’t come until the early ’80s by the founder Robert Nunez, known to us as Mr. Bobby.”
Merren became a member of the association in its founding days and began training in Cayman and Jamaica, where he completed several tours before making his Olympic debut.
Los Angeles Games
After the terrorist attack on Israeli team members at the 1972 Munich Games and the controversy of the 65-nation boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games, the Los Angeles Games were noteworthy only for sport, with the heightened security the only indication of the past violence.
Merren said he remembers the security measures in Los Angeles left no room for error while ensuring that everyone felt safe.
“It was the launch of security measures that the Americans put in, because… prior to that, anyone was able to just walk in among the village/venues, which turned out to be a real tragedy,” he said. “When we touched down in Los Angeles, you were treated like royalty.
“I was integrated amongst the top riders. Greg LeMond, who had just won the 1983 World Championships, he was like the Usain Bolt back then in cycling. I wasn’t nervous or anything, I was just excited to be around all these riders,” Merren recalled, noting that his coach, Ted Gray, brought LeMond over to introduce him to all the Cayman riders.
“I say it today and get cold chills because he came and shook my hand, and he said, ‘What’s your name?’ I said ‘Craig’ and he said ‘Greg’, and I said ‘No, Craig’. Then he said, ‘I wish you the best of luck’ and I felt good … I was so happy and that gave me a positive vibe.”
It was now time to put his years of drafting behind school buses, racing down trails and all the preparatory tours throughout Jamaica to the test for 119 miles along the roads of Los Angeles.
Almost halfway through the race, Merren recalls tiring. “I remember Mr. Bobby giving me a Coke on the fifth lap and that boosted me.
“I did six laps out of 12 that day and in those days once you got lapped, they would pull you out.”
The Los Angeles Games marked the beginning of Olympic cycling for Cayman with Merren sharing that honour with his sister Merilyn Phillips, Ernest Moodie, David Dibben, Alfred Ebanks and Aldyn Wint.
Seoul Games
Merren would go on to compete at his second Olympics at the 1988 games in Seoul, South Korea, after winning gold at his first and last CARIFTA Games in April 1985.
In 1988, Merren competed in the time trial alongside Nicholas Baker, Ebanks and Richard Pascal, finishing 2:19:08, to beat their previous best.
The highlight of those games, however, was Merren’s younger brother Perry finishing the road race – one of the most historic moments for Cayman at the Olympics.
“He finished 16th, and he is the second Caribbean rider to ever finish in the road race at the Olympics to this day. Arthur Tenn from Jamaica is the only other to do it.”
Barcelona Games
Merren went on to represent Cayman for his third and final time at the Olympics at the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, Spain.
It was a time he remembered as the most competitive of his three Olympics.
“The whole eastern bloc opened up and you had more countries, and the competition was very tight,” Merren said. “The course was very hard because it was a Spanish country and the Spanish climb very well.
“We didn’t do too well, we didn’t break our record that we got in ’88,” he said, noting that the style and brand of bicycles mandated to be used at those games was not what the BMX lover was used to.
“I didn’t quite like them, but by then a lot of rules and regulations changed and we couldn’t use the same bikes that we used in ’88.”
Merren was joined by several previous Olympic teammates and many Caymanians making their debuts, including one of Cayman’s all-time greats, Kareem Streete-Thompson. There were 10 athletes in total representing Cayman that year – the biggest team to date.
But while a new chapter was unfolding with Cayman athletes at the Olympics, Merren knew that his time at the world’s biggest sporting event was coming to an end.
“By this time, things were changing for me,” he said. “I was older, and my focus began changing,” noting, however, that he did attempt to go to the Olympics again in 1996 but he had new responsibilities.
“I had a daughter, but I still wanted to go, and I started to train with my coach, Mr. Gray, but it didn’t work out,” he said, adding that he has “no regrets”.
“I would do it again.”
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