Chantoba Bright is a proud Guyanese.
The USA-based athlete was the only Guyanese athlete to win a medal at the Junior Pan Am games which concluded in Cali, Colombia yesterday.
“I’m honored to have been able to represent Guyana once more and I must say I’m feeling pretty good about being the first medalist for my country at the Games,” said Bright yesterday.
With a hop, skip and a jump of 13.50m, Bright leaped to a silver medal and into the record books of the Junior Pan Am Games.
For her heroics, the 21-year old became the first and only medalist for Team Guyana at the inaugural multi-sport event.
The native of Victory Valley, Linden, was elated over her entry into the record books with a silver medal in tow.
She had, in October, snared two medals at the South American U-23 Games in Ecuador.
The Kansas State standout was just off her personal record of 13.53m which she was hoping to eclipse at the event.
“I wanted to PR but it wasn’t meant to be. However, I’m proud of myself because it’s been a rough few months since summer I where I had undergone a surgery on my jump leg and not being able to train and then my roommate shutting down the dorms for two weeks with COVID and then I was sick all week leading up to the competition. Thankfully, I was feeling better in time for the triple jump unlike the long jump.”
Bright placed fifth in the long jump event.
She also stated that her counterparts gave it their best despite not stepping on the podium.
“I wished that Guyana could have attained more medals because I know everyone competed well. I’m grateful to have medaled at such a high level meet and the first of its kind.”
Bright added: “I look forward to many more opportunities to represent my country well as I’ve been doing and you guys can look out for more big jumps unto the podium in the future.”
The silver medal saw Guyana finishing joint 22nd of 29 competing teams along with Nicaragua, Grenada, Bermuda and St Kitts/Nevis.
The competition was won by Brazil with a total of 59 medals while Colombia 48 and the United States of America were second and third with 48 and 47 medals respectively.
