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The Olympics are in progress in Paris. Already some Caribbean countries with fewer resources than Guyana, with much smaller populations and more clout on the international stage, have been securing Olympic medals.
It is not rocket science to understand why Olympic medals seem so elusive to Guyana. There was the time when Cuba was the regional powerhouse. The reason was that the country spent money on sports. The athletes had pride of place in the society.
Cuba funded them to participate in overseas competitions on a regular basis. They went to the Soviet Union where some of the top athletes could have been found. The Cubans were always exposed to international competition.
Guyana, through Forbes Burnham, had a lot of exposure to the Cuban boxers. In the end the local boxers were the best in the English-speaking Caribbean. Because of this programme Guyana secured its only Olympic medal, a bronze.
There is the widely held belief that Guyana could have had more Olympic medals through the United States-based athletes James Wren-Gilkes and former clerk at the Guyana National Cooperative Bank, June Griffith.
In soccer, again Burnham ensured that the local footballers got a lot of exposure to foreign competition. It was the same with the cyclists and with table tennis. Local tennis players won numerous championships.
Guyana was the regional leader. Burnham was learning from the other regional leaders like Michael Manley and Eric Williams.
Jamaica had already secured Olympic gold through Arthur Wint, the first Jamaican to win a gold medal. Herb McKenley was also a household name at the Olympics. He won a ton of medals but no gold. Jamaica had already won Olympic medals going as far back as the 1940s. Had Guyana been an independent country it would have had more medals since then.
Dr Phil Edwards, a former Queen’s College student who moved to Canada because he could not represent the United States since he was from a British colony, secured five Olympic medals.
He ran the 800 metres and the 1,500 metres. He medalled in them on five occasions to remain Canada’s most decorated athlete. There were other Guyanese on the Olympic stage to win medals but not for the country of their birth.
The Burnham government permitted the athletes ample time to train. Their employers were told to allow them to train so they did not have to worry about going to work all day and being given token time off for training.
Guyana’s athletic exploits declined post 1992. The country was no longer the best regional boxing powerhouse behind Cuba. Its soccer team that could beat every team in the English-speaking Caribbean suddenly found itself losing to Antigua, Grenada, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.
Some enterprising Guyanese, having spotted the potential in their children, dug into their pockets to ensure that they got proper coaching and training.
Oil came but sadly the government has not changed its approach to sports. To participate in overseas competitions parents and associations have to beg strangers and businesses.
Jamaica, having recognised the importance of sports, built its first international stadium in 1974. Don’t ask about the results. Tiny Grenada has built one. Today it has secured two Olympic gold medals. St Lucia just won an Olympic gold and a silver in the sprints.
Dominica, one of the smallest countries in the world, has also won an Olympic gold medal. Guyana does not even have a proper athletic track. And we say we are building two more but not in locations where the athletes reside.
The one being constructed at Linden is going nowhere. But when questioned at the recent Caricom heads of government forum, in the presence of regional leaders and others, President Irfaan Ali, announced that the track at Linden was fully surfaced. He was so insistent that one of the people in the audience decided against challenging him.
The truth is that the track is nowhere near completion after four years. It is also being constructed in a location where the government is not comfortable, for political reasons.
Synthetic tracks are nothing new. However, they seem to be rocket science for the government. And this is because the government hasn’t the slightest interest in sport. However, when the athletes do well the government is the first to push itself to the forefront.
Who can forget the reception cricketer Shamar Joseph got when he returned after a successful tour of Australia? Who can forget the reaction for the athletes who returned from the Carifta Games a few months ago? There was talk but to date none has been given any assistance.
Aliann Pompey had to make her name in the United States. She also had to raise funds for an annual top class athletic event in this country with money garnered from foreign supporters.
A Linden-born Guyanese is on the tennis circuit. Her mother has been funding her progress. This woman was also called on to help a Guyana delegation to a table tennis competition in one of the Latin American countries.
Indeed, sports can be a way out of poverty and poverty is rampant in Guyana. Yet the government is doing nothing in this regard. There is no distribution of sports equipment to the underprivileged. There are no sports centres with coaches funded by the government as was the case when Forbes Burnham was the head of the country.
There was no oil money then but coaches were among the lists of public servants. And to think there is a Ministry of Sports. It would be interesting to find out how much the government spent to get the few athletes to Paris. Three, including two swimmers, are based in the United States.
For the records, Guyana has abundant talent. The other day, a regional chairman put Usain Bolt to shame. He was said to beat his live-in lover constantly. One day the beating proved too much and the lover picked up a knife. Eyewitnesses are still left in awe. The regional chairman is by no means athletic, but with a knife behind him he left his chaser breathing dust. The people said that even Bolt could not catch him. Perhaps he is the reason why money is not going to sports.
