RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, CMC – There was disappointment for the Caribbean on the opening day of swimming competition at the 2016 Olympic Games here yesterday as none of the five swimmers in the opening session advanced to the next phase of competition.
Oreoluwa Cherebin of Grenada escaped disqualification after her goggles snapped on the starting blocks and swam heat one of the women’s 100 metres butterfly ‘blindly’ to finish second in one minute, 10.40 seconds.
Yusra Mardini of the Refugee Olympic Team (ROT) won the opening preliminary in 1:09.21.
“I was ready to go and while on the starting blocks the strap snapped and [there was] no time for me to get a replacement,” said Cherebin. “I was lucky to swim and even without the goggles gave it my best effort.”
Geoffrey Butler of the Cayman Islands and Alex Sobers of Barbados also failed to advance in the men’s 400m freestyle which was won by American Conor Dwyer (3:43.42).
Butler won heat one in 4:07.87 while Sobers was fourth in heat two in 3:59.97.
Corey Ollivierre of Grenada and Dustin Tynes of the Bahamas were no match for the experienced swimmers in the men’s 100m breaststroke which saw Briton Peaty Adam setting a new world record of 57.55 seconds.
Ollivierre was sixth in heat one in 1:08.68 while Tynes finished in the last spot in heat two in 1:03.71.
The attention will turn to the experienced Caribbean swimmers today including Jamaican Alia Atkinson in the women’s 100m breaststroke and teammate Timothy Wynter in the men’s 100m backstroke.
Also in competition today will be Evans Joanna of the Bahamas and Lani Cabrera of Barbados in the women’s 400m freestyle, and Mikel Schreuders of Aruba and Noah Mascoll-Gomes of Antigua and Barbuda in the men’s 200m freestyle.
In the women’s 100m backstroke, Lara Butler of the Cayman Islands and Caylee Watson of the United States Virgin Islands will taste action.
