-Wickham and Smith capture consulation gold medals
Team Guyana did not pack enough punch to seriously contend for the overall title in the 2008 Goodwill Swimming Championships but a third place finish overall and two gold medals on the final day from Noelle Smith and Linden Wickham seemed to satisfy the home team yesterday at the Castellani Pool.
After 112 events Suriname emerged on top of the points standings with 1507 points, more than enough to dethrone defending champions Trinidad and Tobago who placed second with 1395.5 points.
Guyana finished third with 721 points, salvaging some pride at home by withstanding a late push from a short-handed Barbados squad (696.5 points).
Golden Glory
Glory for the home team however, came in the 50 freestyles of the 13-14 category when both Smith and Wickham clocked personal records to reach the top of the podium for Guyana for the first time of the meet.
Smith’s race went down to the wire but in the end she managed to out-touch Suriname’s Ruby-Ann Redjopawiro (30:57s) for Guyana maiden gold medal in a time of 30:35s.
“I entered the race fairly confidently and although I expected to medal, I didn’t expect to win the gold. I got off to a good start and I had a really good turn so after I pushed off [of the wall] I knew that was definitely going to medal and I just focused on finishing strong,” said Smith who has stood on every level of the podium for this meet.
Smith added that she grew tired of listening to the national anthems of the other three countries, and wanted to hear her own national anthem play while she received her medal.
Wickham, who had also captured two silver medals in the 50m breaststroke and 100m freestyle events, took his intensity up a notch and followed his compatriot Smith by capturing the very next race, the 50m freestyle.
Another strong performance during the final day was that of Omali Dare in the boys’ 11-12 freestyle 50m freestyle, swimming a personal record of 29.51s.
Guyana managed to capture a total of 29 medals; two gold, six silver, and 21 bronze.
Meanwhile, Suriname dominated with 141 medals, reeling in a whopping 60 gold, 41 silver and 40 Bronze, while Trinidad and Tobago followed with 121 medals; 40 gold, 51 silver and 30 bronze.
Although Barbados placed fourth in the overall standings, they outdid Guyana in the race for the hardware, collecting a total of 45 medals, 12 gold, 12 silver and 21 bronze.
The meet was completed with a closing ceremony last night at the Ocean View International Hotel where the champion age group swimmers of the meet were acknowledged.
