Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater

Apr 20, 2023 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

---

Kaieteur News – It is being constantly reported that Guyana came in fifth in the overall standings at the track and field events at the recently-concluded CARIFTA Games. However, the table of medals – presumably from which this so-called ranking is derived however establishes otherwise.

Guyana secured 8 medals at the games – 3 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze. In terms of overall medals won, Guyana came in seventh, behind Jamaica (78), The Bahamas (46), Trinidad and Tobago (25), St. Kitts Nevis (11), Barbados (10), Grenada (10). In terms of the medal count, Guyana straddles far behind the Region’s athletic powerhouses Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. But there is no shame in this because seventh place is still credible considering that 21 countries participated in the Games.

While Guyanese can and should rightly sing the praises of its track and field stars and should continue to encourage those who participated in the Games, there is no need to get carried away. It would be counterproductive to make these athletes feel that they have arrived as top-class performers. Guyana’s overall performance at the Games was far from spectacular. In 2013 Guyana won 6 medals; in 2014 it won four medals; in 2017 its athletes won  8 medals; and in 2019, Guyana’s medal haul was 10.. This year’s take therefore is not anything to get excited about.

The CARIFTA Games is not a good measure of world-class talent. It falls way below the gold standard of track and field in the Region. Indeed, given Jamaica’s medal haul and historic domination of these Games, there have been suggestions within that country that it should not be placing as much emphasis on participation in the Games.

But one official of the Jamaica Athletics Administration Association indicated that the country will continue to send athletes to the CARIFTA Games. He said it was important for the development of Jamaican athletes and for the development of athletics in the Region as a whole. In other words, he was saying that Jamaica benefits and the region benefits from having Jamaica at the Games.

Guyana’s performance was overshadowed by the controversies posed by some members of the team’s late arrival at the Games. But Guyana was not the only country which suffered from this problem, as was observed during the commentary of the Games. That said, a case has been made to examine the reasons for the delay and whether or not there was negligence which contributed to the late arrival of the athletes. It would be unfortunate if at this stage of the development of local track and field that the athletic association should be thrown into turmoil. There is clearly a need for a strong association to continue to improve local athletics, especially in light of the proposed investments in track and field facilities which the government has announced.

It will take some years for those investments to bear fruit in terms of the performance of our athletes. There has never been a direct correlation between investments in track and field infrastructure and performance. In Trinidad and Tobago, it took a long time before that country began to reap the benefits of the modern facilities which were erected by that country’s government during the oil boom years. So there has to be other more important factors which accounts for Trinidad’s successes.

Guyana has to aim to do well at the Pan Am Games and the Commonwealth Games. These represent the litmus test for our athletes. In order to do this, Guyana will need much more than stadiums and training facilities. It will need proper coaches. If there is any investment which the athletic association should be making is to try, with the support of the local business community, to recruit world class track and field coaches.

Jamaica has had a long tradition of athletic prowess. And this is because it has a good system beginning in the schools. Guyana does not have anything comparable. There are few good coaches in the school system  but there is a woeful shortage of athletic development programmes in Guyana’s school system. These are the things which need to be fixed. But they cannot be fixed by government. In fact, government should stay clear of trying to intervene in the work of sporting associations. As we have seen in cricket, government interference is a recipe for underdevelopment. It is for this reason that the Guyana Athletics Association should emerge stronger from this controversy over the participation of local athletes in the CARIFTA Games. If we are truly honest about Guyana’s successes at regional athletic meets, we would recognize that the credit for much of this has to go to the incumbent athletic association, including its now suspended President.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

---

• Barbados, CARIFTA, Guyana, Peeping Tom, The Bahamas

---