Swimmer Delroy Tyrrell’s father weighs in on son’s application to represent Guyana issue

Sep 04, 2024 Letters, Sports

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Dear Editor,

I am Fitzroy Tyrrell, father of swimmer Delroy Tyrell. I would like to highlight some points on this issue relating to my son’s application to represent Guyana and the seeming foot dragging by the GASA in relation to this matter.

Our son, Delroy Tyrrell, was born and raised in Guyana in his formative years before relocating to Trinidad and Tobago, where he resided with us as a family. While residing in Trinidad and Tobago, our son, Delroy began participating professionally in the aquatic sport of swimming at age group categories only as a representative of Trinidad and Tobago, where he resided at the time.  At all material times, he represented Trinidad and Tobago Teams for the Goodwill Games, CARIFTA Championships, Caribbean and Central America Championships and Pan Am Age Group Championships, and medaled at every game.

Our son’s last representation for Trinidad and Tobago was on or around June 2022 at the Pan Am Age Group Championship where our son participated in the Under20 category only and secured a silver medal in this age group category. Our son made a career decision after this last age group category participation to professionally represent Guyana, his country of birth, as he began embarking on professional studies and training in swimming as part of his college career in the United States.

On or around July 27, 2023, the Honourable Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Mr. Charles Ramson called a meeting with the Commissioners of the National Sports Commission, the Executives of the Guyana Olympic Association, the GASA and our son Delroy to discuss and resolve the issue of our son changing his country of sports nationality. By the end of the meeting, it was agreed and resolved by the GASA that the Association “shares Mr. Tyrrell’s immediate objective to swim for Guyana and is committed to expediting the process with him”.

Moreover, on or around August 5, 2023, a meeting with Stakeholder representatives of the sport was convened and stakeholders, including representatives of the GASA, agreed to work together towards the eligible transfer of our son to represent Guyana in swimming.

On August 7, 2023, our son received a request to sign the Application for Change of Sport Nationality Status letter from Mrs. Melissa Dow Richardson. In the said application letter, the President of GASA’s signature was already affixed and it also contained a list of all the required documents for the Application that the National Sports Commission had mobilized to create the said Application bundle.

However, on or around May 13, 2024, Mr. Tyrrell senior wrote to World Aquatics requesting an update on the status of our son’s application for a change in sports nationality. However, I was informed by the Legal Counsel of World Aquatics, Miss Jan Exner who responded by way of an email dated May 14, 2024, highlighting that World Aquatics “…double checked” their internal systems and email inboxes but found “…no record of your previous submission regarding the Athlete [Delroy Tyrrell] neither by you nor by Guyana Amateur Swimming Association… Therefore, I would like to kindly ask you to facilitate the re-submission of the request for the change of Sports Nationality of the Athlete by the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association. Concerning this, please note that only World Aquatics Members/National Federations have the authority to submit the request for the change of Sports Nationality on behalf of the athlete who wishes to join them. Please note that the Sports Nationality of the athletes is governed by the World Aquatics Competition Regulations (“Competition Regulations”) … [emphasis added]”.

On or around July 31, 2024, over one year after the above-mentioned July 27, 2023 meeting with the Honourable Minister Mr. Ramson, our son wrote to the President of the GASA for an update on the submission of the application for change of sports nationality to World Aquatics, whether by him and or the Association. Our son also inquired about the date, if any, that the application was submitted. To this, our son again received no response from the President of GASA.

However, through news statement in the Kaieteur Newspaper article dated August 18, 2024, the President of GASA reported to sports journalist, Mr. Rawle Toney, that “…GASA has already submitted all necessary documents to the sport’s global governing body and is awaiting written confirmation regarding when Tyrrell will be eligible to compete.”

Mr. Tyrrell sent the Kaieteur News article to World Aquatics for comments and received this response on the 30^th of August, 2024,

“Dear World Aquatics Member,

Dear Mr. Tyrell,

I am writing to you regarding the request to change the Sports Nationality concerning Delroy Tyrrell (“Athlete”).

It came to our attention that the President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association (“GASA”) stated in a recent article that the request for a change of the Sports Nationality concerning the Athlete was already submitted to World Aquatics and that the GASA is waiting for our further steps. Please note that we have double-checked our internal systems and e-mail inboxes. Still, unfortunately, we have no record of any previous submission regarding the Athlete, either by an individual or by the GASA.

It is quite clear that after one year, Delroy Tyrrell is no closer to changing his sporting nationality despite meeting all the requirements.

Issue (b) Failure to Issue Sanction Letters to enable our son’s participation in official events and forums

The National Swimming Federation guidelines are also governed by certain age-old rules including the rules for registration involving sanction letters. By virtue of this rule, GASA recognised that unless a swimmer receives a sanction letter from their National Federation, the swimmer would not be in good standing to participate in any official swim meet. It is important to note that in the absence of a sanction letter, any achievement of the swimmer(s) is unrecognised by the athlete’s coach and by the Swim Meet authorities. Therefore, any medals, awards or new records achieved by the athlete in participation of official Swim Meets will neither be received by him or credited to him as part of his sporting career.

On or around April 27, 2024, our son through his coach at the Guyana Dorado Speed Swim Club requested a sanction letter “as per protocol to ensure our status would be in good standing with the Guyanese Amateur Swimming Association (GASA) and World Aquatics (WA) rules and regulations” from the GASA for his participation in the National Short Course Championships Swim Meet in Trinidad and Tobago. On this request, the GASA issued a sanction letter stating that Delroy Tyrrell was in “good standing” with the GASA.

However, on or around July 10, 2024 to July 14, 2024, when our son attended the National Short Course Championships Swim Meet in Trinidad and Tobago and after participating in his events, he was notified by his coach that his sanction letter from the GASA was denied. At the said Championships Swim Meet, our son recorded a new national record for the 50m Backstroke, however, this achievement was unrecognized because of the GASA’s refusal to grant a sanction letter. Moreover, by way of email dated July 23, 2024, our son wrote to the President of the GASA seeking clarification and inquiring on the nature of circumstances that led to the first sanction letter being granted in May, then being denied two months later, in July, 2024. Our son sought the reasons for this decision by the GASA and or its President. However, again, received no response from the President of GASA.

The continued delay by the President of GASA and or other members of the Association in failing to submit our son’s documents means that our son would have effectively been removed from professionally competing in necessary swim meets in the prime of his athletic career.

Additionally, these delay tactics and bureaucracy being demonstrated by the GASA fail to consider the impact of their action(s) and or inaction(s) on our son as an athlete and in the view of his peers, trainers and coaches.

Fitzroy Tyrrell.

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• Application, Delroy Tyrell, Guyana, swimmer, weighs

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