Two of Guyana’s athletes, Winston George and Brenessa Thompson were eliminated in the preliminary rounds of their events yesterday at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
George placed 26th in the 400 metres event with a time of 45.77s. He featured in the heat with Grenada’s star Kirani James who advanced along with several other Caribbean athletes.
Thompson placed 53rd in the 100 metres event with a time of 11.72 seconds. Thompson is also competing in the 200 metres.
Meanwhile Guyana’s Olympic medal hopes in swimming were swamped during the past two days at the Aquatic Stadium in Rio de Janeiro as Hannibal Gaskin and Jamila Sanmoogan both failed to qualify for the semi finals.
The nation’s hopes of medaling at this edition of the prestigious Games now rest squarely on the shoulders of track and field athletes, Troy Doris (triple jump), Thompson and quarter miler, Aliyah Abrams.
Yesterday, Sanmoogan finished sixth in heat five (there were 12 heats) of the 50m freestyle while Gaskin placed second in his unseeded 100m butterfly race which featured three competitors on Thursday.
Gaskin stopped the clock at 58.57s (reputedly a new national record) but was 42nd out of a possible 43 entrants.
While Gaskin and Sanmoogan were wildcard entrants, the track and field athletes earned their places in Rio and will be looking to put Guyana on the map.
