This year’s Pan American Games staged in Santiago, Chile was an historic one for Team Guyana.
The local contingent finished with three medals, thanks to track and field standouts, Emanuel Archibald, Jasmine Abrams and Leslain Baird but more notably, the trio etched their names in the annals of history following their heroic performances.
Prior to this year’s event which was staged from October 20 to November 5 in the chilly Chilean capital, a local male or female never ran up the podium steps in the blue riband 100m event. This dates back since Guyana first competed at the Games in 1959. The medal drought in the marquee dash ended on October 31 as both Archibald and Abrams finished among the medals.
Archibald, 28, clocked 10.31s to earn the bronze medal after leading for most of the race. Abrams, the national 100m record holder meanwhile crossed the tape in 11.52s to snare the silver medal. The pair also recorded Guyana’s first podium finishes on the track in 20 years following Aliann Pompey (400m) and Marian Burnett (800m) who finished third and second in their respective events in 2003. Following their inspiring performances, Baird with his javelin in tow, took to the field.
After a mammoth throw of 78.23m on his fourth attempt, the Coast Guard in the Guyana Defence Force secured a historic bronze medal for the Golden Arrowhead. Baird, the national javelin record holder became the first local athlete to earn a medal in that event at the Games. In Chile, Guyana was represented in the disciplines of Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Swimming, Weight Lifting and Esport.
At this year’s Games, Team Guyana’s three medals was good for 26th on the medal table which was headed by USA (124 gold-286 total). Brazil (66 gold-205 total) and Mexico (52 gold-142 total) finished second and third overall following the final medal count.
(Emmerson Campbell)
