Nine days to the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympic Games and Guyana’s chef de mission to the Games Dr Karen Pilgrim is very confident that the team will make the most of the opportunity to compete on at the world’s biggest stage.
Guyana will only be competing in three disciplines, namely athletics, swimming and judo at the Games which officially begin on July 27th. Six athletes will be representing Guyana in those three disciplines and they will be accompanied by six officials and Pilgrim, bringing the Guyana delegation size to 13 members.
The athletes that will be competing at the Olympics for Guyana are swimmers Britany Van Lange and Niall Roberts, Judoka Raul Lall and track athletes Aliann Pompey, Jeremy Bascom and Winston George.
While neighbouring countries such as Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago and further in the region to Islands like Jamaica and Bahamas boast of teams up to five times larger, Guyana’s head of delegation Dr. Pilgrim expects the best from her team of six.
“I expect a lot of enthusiasm, effort and personal bests (PBs) performances,” Pilgrim told Stabroek Sport.
George and Pompey will be competing in the 400m, while Bascom will be competing in the men’s 100m. Roberts and Van Lange will be swimming the men’s and women’s 100m freestyle races respectively while Lall will be sparring in the Under 60kg category.
Of the six, only Pompey and Roberts have competed at previous Olympics Games. Pompey will be competing in her fourth and possibly final Olympiad this year, while Roberts, who benefited from a wildcard qualifying spot at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 had amassed enough FINA points to capitalize on the opportunity once again.
The team also includes two teenagers, Van Lange (15) and Lall (17) who are also benefiting from a version of ‘wildcard’ qualifying spots. Based on Guyana’s participation at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai China, Guyana was awarded two universality places to participate in the swimming competition at the 2012 Olympics. These places were awarded to the athletes with the highest tally of FINA points. Van Lange, who had competed at the 2011 World Championships as well as the World Short Course Championships, got the edge for girls, while Roberts, who competed at the last three World Championships (Melbourne 2007, Italy 2009 and Shanghai 2011) was the chosen male.
Lall on the other hand was chosen by the International Judo Federation to receive the Tripartite Invitation Place ahead of athletes from four other disciplines (table tennis, cycling, boxing and Taekwondo) whose names were submitted.
Pompey, who is the national 400m record holder, is 34 -years old and this may be her last Olympic Games as she had previously indicated. The Commonwealth gold and silver medallist will be accompanied by her coach Joseph Ryan as she possibly looks to end her illustrious track and field career for Guyana on a high note. Pompey will take the track on August 3rd for the first round of the women’s 400m.
While most teams have already departed for London, Guyana’s locally based athletes are scheduled to depart next week, arriving just a few hours before the opening ceremony, even though the Games village for accommodating athletes opens today. Lall is expected to compete in his event on the 28th, followed Roberts on the 31st and Van Lange on August 1st. Bascom and George will compete in the first round heats of their events on August 4th.
