Guyana’s bronze medal in the Men’s 4x100m Relay at the Senior South American Championship has brought recognition to the country, says President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson.
The quartet of Jeremy Bascom, Emanuel Archibald, Akeem Stewart and Noelex Holder finished behind Brazil and Colombia at the event in Ecuador.
“Guyana now has moved up in the threshold at the ranking of World Athletics for having a good 4×100 team,” Hutson related.
“What this has done is NACAC (North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association) has already invited us to be in the 4×100 (last weekend), but I think it was too short for us to get these guys up again and send them to Miami, but this would have improved the ranking of Guyana as a 4×100 country.”
The AAG Head, while lauding the exploits of the athletes, said their participation and medal can be seen as a “selfless gesture” as it Guyana that gets the glory and not necessarily the runners.
“When they go out there and compete as a relay team, they compete for Guyana. So we could grab another four (athletes) and they would still have the same recognition as these four would have had. It’s a kind of a selfless gesture to go out there and compete for your country and be able to bring home a bronze medal for Guyana,” Hutson explained.
The chemistry of the quartet was highlighted, as two were from Guyana, one based in the USA and the other in Jamaica.
“I think we need to give compliments to the Coach who went along with this team in first and foremost setting it, in terms of the order, and also the athletes themselves for executing over a short period of time of being together,” Hutson said.
Overall, Guyana copped four individual and one team medal at the Championship, while several athletes recorded personal and season best.
The Relay bronze aside, Emanuel Archibald copped silver in the Men’s 100m, Andrea Foster bronze in the Women’s 800m, Jasmine Abrams got third in the Female 100m and Jenea McCammon a similar finish in the 100m hurdles.
