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A lesson to learn
By Rawle Welch
Even though we are halfway through the 2008 Beijing Olympics, some of the events completed so far and the solid performances of a few countries could provide a vital lesson for Guyana.
First, there was the performance of Jamaican Usain Bolt, who smashed his own world record, erasing the old mark of 9.72 seconds clocking an astonishing 9.69 to grab gold.
Before that we sat and saw some unbelievable swimming from American Michael Phelps, who is already being touted as the greatest Olympian ever after equaling the seven gold medals fellow countryman Mark Spitz won at a single Olympics.
The point is this, these two countries along with many others chose to invest heavily in disciplines that they have a proud history of doing well in.
The same cannot be said of Guyana, which instead of providing the necessary funding for a sport (boxing) that remains the only one so far to provide us with our sole Olympic medal to date, decided to scatter the few dollars set aside for the development of sports to areas where we are certainly not going to advance our chances of winning a medal in the near and even distant future.
As bleak and negative as it sounds, this is the stark reality and many have repeatedly questioned the sense in investing in projects such as an Olympic-size swimming pool at the expense of a state-of-the-art boxing facility or even a multi-purpose sports complex.
The gains that could be derived from the construction of either of the two would have been a safer bet than the former since the performances of the world’s two superpowers in swimming, the United States of America and Australia clearly underlined their superiority in the sport, topping countries that will remain far stronger than Guyana over the next decade.
No country serious about sports development and intent on making a significant mark in the sports arena places all the disciplines on the same plateau.
Just to expand a bit, Cuba still places much emphasis on boxing and athletics because it is their best bet to secure medals and world champions, the USA devote lots of attention on track and field, athletics, swimming and basketball and the reason is clear for all to see, while China places its focus on diving gymnastics and table tennis and once again we can all check the past performances and see why.
Kenya and Ethiopia are usually very strong in distance running so there is always unreserved support for that discipline and the list goes on.
We in Guyana seem not to understand this simple logic so our performance at all the major Games is and will always be disappointing until we get it right.
The Government’s policy on sport must change and as is the case in all the above mentioned countries, they lead from the front and not rely totally on Federations and Associations to propel their respective disciplines.
Our performances continue to worsen since the 70’s and 80’s and the general view is that because of the selfish nature of our sport administrators who seemed solely preoccupied with just attending these ‘big’ events our progress in sports will keep on the course of regression.
It is time the Government grabs the bull by the horn and stop pretending that it is serious about developing sports.
The building of a stadium and the proposed construction of a 50-metre pool is just the start of the process which must be assisted by the procurement of top flight coaches and scholarships for our young and promising athletes.
There was period not so long ago when Guyana was the most dominant nation in sports in the Caribbean, but this is no longer the case and the question that must be asked is why this scenario has been allowed to form.
We must return to the drawing board and develop those disciplines in which we were traditionally strong in and immediately boxing tops that list followed by athletics.
The evidence is clear; countries are maintaining their focus on those that they stand the best chance of medaling in.
Another feature that was noticed was India’s strong presence in the heptathlon, sending as many as three females in that event and even though they failed to gain a podium spot it could very well be that they have begun to invest in an event that they feel they can win sometime in the future.
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