President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), K Juman Yassin is hoping that the government stays true to its word of doing more for the development of sportsmen and women who represent the Golden Arrowhead on the world stage.
“I am happy, and elated to say that I have seen that there is a change in the mood and approach of the government. Minister (Nicollette) Henry has indicated that the government intends to invest in our athletes and coaches, I am going to put her to the test and I am waiting to see how soon.”Yassin said.
Yassin’s comments (among others) were made yesterday at Olympic House during the first press briefing held by the GOA in the aftermath of the Rio Olympics
The GOA head reiterated that for Guyana to end the 36-year Olympic medal drought, sufficient investments must be made in order for returns to be had.
“When you see Guyana not winning a medal at the Olympics do not be surprised, do not throw stones because unless you invest you will not get the returns.”
Yassin pointed out that Great Britain, which had the second highest medal count at the just concluded Olympics, success was due to heavy investment prior to the staging of the prestigious games.
“The reason that Great Britain was so successful was because of the investment that they made now and in the past. They had allocated funds in order to get the best coaches of the world. They were able to get the best coaches from around the world, they were able to pay their athletes an allowance to work full-time, our athletes and coaches are part-time, some of them are not even part-time, some are just volunteers.” Yassin noted.
President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson, President of the Guyana Amateur Swimming Association, Ivan Persaud, along with the Olympic team’s Chef-de-Mission, Garfield Wiltshire and coach for the swimming team, Paul Mahaica were present at the briefing.
Wiltshire underscored that it must be kept in mind that with the exception of Winston George, all of the athletes on the team were first timers and this may have been somewhat daunting for the athletes, coupled with other conditions surrounding their performances; particularly in the case of college athletes Brenessa Thompson and Aliyah Abrams.
Nonetheless he asserted that they showed potential as strong future contenders for Tokyo 2020 and beyond.
“There were several factors that could have contributed to their performances. Firstly, they were running at almost 10:40 at night and the first two nights were extremely cold and for athletes to come appearing before 80, 000 on the big stage for the first time, some persons may say that they froze, but they are young college athletes and they could only get better for the future, this was their first time on the big stage,” Wiltshire stated.
Both Hutson and Persaud said that they will now be looking towards Tokyo 2020 for young Olympians. Hutson also noted that he is also focusing on the 2017 IAAF World Championships.
