We might never know whether the courage displayed by the Guyana Olympic Association’s membership (GOA) to oust its longest serving president ever, was natural or influenced.
However, the vote to impose the 70-year-old age limit rule that would eventually end 76-year-old K. Juman Yassin’s mammoth 26-year reign atop one of the country’s most powerful national ruling bodies, is the most earth shattering news from the organization since pugilist Michael Parris won Guyana’s first Olympic medal more than 40 years ago
It means Yassin’s successor will have to pull out the stops to upgrade the GOA’s image that has taken flack as Yassin piled on the years at the helm and Guyana’s hopes for its next Olympic medal receded.
The GOA might not be directly responsible for developing boxers, track athletes, Under-23 footballers, swimmers, cyclists, table tennis players, weightlifters etc., but it’s reluctance to be more giving to its affiliates over the years and being less secretive about its role in the grand scheme of things sports-wise, has not made it the best liked ruling body in the public eye.
As the talent drain continued and facilities deteriorated, fans were left to conclude that the GOA did nothing other than select teams for the Olympics and the other multi-sport events around the world.
Everything else operations-wise including finance matters were under lock and key to the public and known only to GOA members.
Unlike FIFA, the world ruling body for football whose subventions to member associations are common knowledge to the public, like the next new Kim Kardashian TV venture,
The ICC’s money it gifts to affiliates like the GOA are akin to KGB secrets.
It couldn’t be peanuts though, given the International Olympics Committee’s (ICC) massive revenue returns from hosting the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years.
And as the boxing gyms disappeared which produced Parris and other pugilists who were expected to medal at the 1976 Olympics before than unfortunate boycott of the Montreal event by Guyana, Yassin kept insisting it was Government’s sole responsibility to provide facilities.
It did not help his case that the GOA was constructing a swanky state -of- the- art building for its headquarters as the competitors’ struggles continued.
It is anybody’s guess had the GOA over the years adopted the lead in finding means for those boxing gyms, apart from the “Sixhead” Lewis facility, to be maintained or having an all- weather track for athletes to train in a central location other than faraway Leonora, home of the lone such internationally recognized facility, whether team and individual performances woud’ve improved on the world stage.
But it rankled that the GOA’s priorities seemed more concentrated within its circles than the competitor outside.
When the Yassin administration eventually started helping fund teams competing outside its purview, in recent times for overseas engagements, it was when public pressure for him to step down intensified. After the uniform fiasco involving the team at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, when the color changed dramatically from the predominant gold and green to the dominant red of the ruling PPP administration, reared its head, Yassin didn’t provide answers justifying the decision.
Instead he seemed intent on gathering support to run for his umpteenth term rather than quell the outcry of his GOA playing politics with the national team.
It’s now anybody’s guess whether the next GOA President will be Garfield Wilshire, the long serving treasurer from Yassin’s inner circle or Godfrey Monroe who could be a welcome change from the dubious past.
What is certain is that the Presidency will no longer be the preserve of an eminent practitioner of law. Over the years It seemed a given that any such professional with an inkling sport interest was guaranteed a perk with the GOA Presidency, for service to the profession without much regard to sports administration qualities being a prerequisite.
When it wasn’t Sir Lionel Luckhoo, it was Chief Justice Rudolph Harper or Chief Magistrate K. Juman Yassin.
Munroe doesn’t hold such titles, rather he is a proven administrator whose resume is enhanced from his experience as a competitor. A former national table tennis champion, Munroe has risen through the ranks culminating in him holding the Guyana Table Tennis Association’s Presidency and an automatic representative on GOA, while working steadily to keep the sport viable.
Under his leadership table tennis has emerged from the doldrums to a place close to the glory days of the 1960s and 70’s when Guyana was rated among the best in the English-speaking
Caribbean. Now might not be halcyon times of George Braithwaite, Garth Issacs, the Davidson sisters, Doreen Chow -wah or Christopher Chung Wee, but the association has been quietly and effectively managing the careers of Chelsea Edgehill, Shemar Britton Christopher Franklyn and others who have kept the Golden Arrowhead flying.
For the record, Guyana emerged as the best English speaking team in both men’s and women’s team events, placing third in both divisions at the last Caribbean Championships, now dominated by the powerful Spanish speaking nations.
Edgehill became the first Guyanese to qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo last year not long after bagging the Caribbean Under-21 title, a feat mirrored by Britton, who’s been motivated to continue the sport despite undertaking taxing law studies.Having also spearheaded Guyana’s successful hosting of the Caribbean Championships in 2019, who can doubt Munroe’s credentials.
Challenges are nothing new to him and throwing his hat in the ring for the GOA Presidency should be a no-brainer even if the organization is at a low ebb.
