Dear Editor,
Guyana could never seriously have pretended that it had hopes, much more chances, of achieving an Olympic medal, so totally underprepared were its representatives for such a high standard of competition.
The under-preparedness is of course no fault of the athletes themselves; instead it is a substantive reflection of the inadequacy of sports management at the highest levels in Guyana, where sport is just fun and entertainment for local consumption. The private sector profits by investment in teams, however mediocre, rather than sportsmen and women of obvious potential.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport which dictates what semblances there are of this sector, never had a cohesive plan for its development, certainly with international standards in mind. When the Director of Sport seeks to pre-empt criticisms of Guyana’s failure at the London Olympics, expected as it was, it is merely to obfuscate the fact that there is no national plan, and therefore no targets set for achievements in the various subsectors of sport.
This is not to say that those who affect roles as promoters, managers, coaches have not contributed to this sorry pass, if only by default, since they too need to be developed to understand and perform at international standards. Like their official counterparts they seem indifferent to knowing about the facilities, equipment, health and nutrition programmes, and the supportive educational arrangements, which obtain in neighbouring Caribbean territories, particularly Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago. Even Grenada’s recent performance must be a source of embarrassment to this country, with its unwieldy and unproductive sports apparatus.
One must note the inferior infrastructure which exists for athletics in particular, in which regard there is the discernible sensitivity about which proportion of the population participates in these ‘games.’ The other is hardly even amongst the onlookers.
Notwithstanding, the long overdue cinder track project is located in Region 3, with the Demerara River separating this facility from the major loci of athletes in Regions to the east. Even in ‘sports’ can be detected the sneaking element of control.
Meanwhile those officials and others who viewed the televised games, would have been impressed with how dedicated the winners (and runner-ups) were to extensive training over years, some even exchanging countries to ensure the appropriate preparation. By contrast our swimming facility, defective as it is, was hardly available a year ago.
While admittedly there were no high expectations for Guyana, it does mean that lessons should have been learnt, the truth of our deficiencies squarely faced, and that there must be a commitment and a plan to raise the bar to Olympian heights – beginning today.
Yours faithfully,
E B John
