Latest update April 16th, 2026 4:35 PM
Does the GOA reward inconsistency?
– must clarify its position on Forde
By Edison Jefford
Sports are not games and the fact that sport administrators seem to be playing games in Guyana represents an urgent need for the community of sport to demand performance from those who believe that Guyanese accept mediocrity.
Without diverting attention from the Alika Morgan issue, time must be allotted to this matter of serious contradiction, which has surfaced. The Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) must clarify its position on Cleveland Forde.
It was reported last Friday that Forde, a distance athlete who trains at the Kipchoge Keino High Performance Centre in Kenya, was given a ‘wildcard’ entry to compete at the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
Guyana’s Chef–de–Mission to the Olympic Games, Noel Adonis said that Forde, who had benefited from an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship, will compete in the 1500 metre race in Beijing owing to the ‘wildcard’.
Adonis further stated that it was his understanding that Forde got the entry because of his “promise” and “potential” at the Centre in Kenya. It became obvious that Adonis was not aware of the recent performances of Forde.
When the ‘Little Kenyan’, as he is misleadingly called, left Guyana in 2004 for Kenya, his personal best time in the 5000m was 15:39. Two years later he reduced that time to his current personal best (14:07.08) at the South American Championships.
Forde’s 14:07.08 was by far his most outstanding performance in the 5000m event. However, it was downhill for the 23–year–old distance athlete after then with below par times of 15:19.48 and 15:25.12 at separate meets in 2007.
The 15:19.48 was done in Brazil on July 23, 2007 while the 15:25.12 was done at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan on August 30 of the same year. Forde finished two laps behind first place at the World Championships.
GOA President, Juman Yassin had revealed last month that Forde’s International Olympic Committee (IOC) Scholarship will not be renewed when it expires this month because he has not shown consistent improvement.
If Forde’s scholarship comes to an end this month without renewal, how can he still benefit from an IOC wildcard draw? And if he has shown “promise” and “potential”, according to Adonis, why his scholarship is not being renewed?
It is almost a similar situation with Aliann Pompey. After her Commonwealth Games win in 2002, the United States–based athlete has shown little improvement despite her known international exposure for Guyana.
Pompey won the coveted 400m Commonwealth title in Manchester, England with a time of 51.63 seconds. After that time, her next best times were 50.93 (her personal best time) in 2004 and 51.07 done last week in Bulgaria.
The senior national 400m record holder has competed at three World Championships and two Olympic Games for Guyana without reaching the final at any. She has struggled with consistency since that Commonwealth Games win.
A perfect example of this would be her performance at the recent Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships in Columbia where Pompey failed to advance to the final after coming off the respectable 51.07 victory.
Forde and Pompey are the most inconsistent of Guyana’s international campaigners yet the GOA finds a reason or reasons to send them to international meets.
Whether it is the sorry excuse that they are our best athletes and provide our best medal chances or a ‘wildcard’ claim, Pompey and Forde’s selection to national teams is almost inevitable.
No problem with the inevitability of their selection but let it be based on performance and not the compulsive need to have Guyana represented. The goal for sport in this country must be beyond just participation.
The general community of sport must openly renounce the selection and attendance of athletes, who continue to plunge the image of Guyana into the abyss, at international meets where the world is often the audience.
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