Sportsman extraordinaire and literary giant Dr Ian Mc Donald has been honoured by the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) for his contribution to the disciplines of sport and art.
Mc Donald, who has represented Guyana at lawn tennis and squash, won the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Trophy for “Sport and Art” at the awards ceremony held at Georgetown Club April 18.
Each year, the IOC makes available to the respective National Olympic Committees, a trophy to be presented to an individual or organization in a specific area and the trophy for last year was entitled “Sport and Art.”
The GOA received a number of nominations and MC Donald’s was forwarded to the IOC and subsequently approved by them.
“Our awardee is Antiguan by ancestry, Trinidadian by birth, Guyanese by adoption and West Indian by conviction,” was how Mc Donald was introduced at the GOA Awards Ceremony by former GOA General Secretary Ivor O’Brien.
“He has the unusual distinction of representing his country across five different decades: tennis (Trinidad) in the 1940s; tennis (Trinidad, Guyana and the West Indies) in the 1950s; tennis and squash (Guyana) in the 1970s and squash (Guyana) in the 198s. His love for literature and writing began when he was a schoolboy,” added O’Brien.
Mc Donald was junior lawn tennis champion of Trinidad and Tobago in the 1940s and represented the twin island republic in the 1950s on the team which won the Brandon Trophy, symbol of supremacy among regional men’s teams.
He also had the distinction of playing at Wimbledon in 1952, 1954, 1955 and 1959 and captained Cambridge University in 1957.
He was also a member of the Guyana men’s lawn tennis team which won the Brandon Trophy in 1957 and captained Guyana for many years afterwards. He was also West Indies Davis Cup team captain in the 1950s and was secretary of the British Caribbean Lawn tennis Association in the 1960s and 1970s.
Mc Donald was also featured in Mike Baptiste’s `Gallery of the Greats’, a book which chronicled the achievements of the nation’s top sportsmen and women.Mc Donald’s wife also received a floral presentation at the GOA Awards Ceremony.
