In the Tuesday, 20 July issue of the Caymanian Compass, an article appeared on the front page titled ‘New Olympic team for Cayman’, which reported on the official opening of the 21st Olympics held in Montreal.
The team was ‘new’ because Carson Ebanks joined Cayman’s team at the last minute, taking the place of Peter Milburn, who remained on standby if needed. Cayman finished the first race of the 470 class in last position.
Cayman’s contingency of six people marched behind the Cayman Islands insignia in the parade, with Gerry Kirkconnell carrying the Cayman Islands national flag. A 17-page good-luck telegram, which ended up containing over 1,000 names from well-wishers in Cayman, was accepted by a “completely overwhelmed” Kirkconnell.
Another article covered an explosion at Bodden Motors parts depot, just off Shedden Road. The article reported that acetylene and oxygen stored in the building led to a series of explosions that blew the roof off the building and broke through walls. Flames at times went 100 feet up in the air. The owner, George Seymour, was hospitalised at the time of the fire. Fire chief Kirkland Nixon said it was the most hazardous call the airport fire brigade ever attended, and he thanked the help of bystanders during the incident.
The Olympics continued to be covered in the Friday, 23 July issue. In the article ‘Montreal Olympics Report – Boycott: 700 athletes affected’, it was reported that Sudan was the latest country to join the walkout of the Olympics, causing further cancellation of events. Although the article did not explain it, 22 African countries withdrew from the games in protest of New Zealand’s participation after its ‘All Black’ rugby team commenced a 24-match tour of apartheid South Africa only weeks after the Soweto uprising in which 176 black schoolchildren were killed by government forces during mass student protests.
The Cayman team continued to participate and finished in 18th place on the Wednesday race, but had a premature start on the Thursday which put them back to 28th place.
The Cayman team also hosted a “very successful” barbecue, with turtle burgers for 500 athletes, press people and officials in the Olympic Village. The event was televised on the national news on the Thursday evening, and the network complimented the Cayman Islands delegation on “their positive approach regarding publicity and healthy attitude toward participation in the Olympics”.
The photo on the front page showed the Cayman Islands delegates at the 12th Regional Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Guyana.
An article appeared on page 3 with details of the planned opening of Radio Cayman by the governor and other officials.
The editorial on page 4 was also on Radio Cayman. “It is with a deep sense of pride that we congratulate Radio Cayman and welcome them as a partner in the media as they prepare to go into full operation,” the editorial stated.
The editorial also complimented “the foresight, planning and hard work of the Director of Broadcasting, Roy Dunlop”.
It also stated, “As the station identifies itself with the heritage of a beloved nation and proclaims the people’s way of life and aspirations, the Caymanian Compass wishes the crowning and continuing successes.”
An advertisement also appeared on page 4 on the grand opening of The No. 1 Shoe Shop, which celebrated its 50th anniversary this past week.
The Cayman Compass searchable archives, going back to 1965, are now available here.
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