COVID Liaison Officer/Physiotherapist to accompany Guyana’s Olympic delegation

By Avenash Ramzan

Guyana’s delegation to the Tokyo Olympic Games later this month will include a COVID Liaison Officer/Physiotherapist, the Guyana Olympic Association announced on Saturday.

During a press conference at its headquarters in Liliendaal, President of the Association, K.A. Juman Yassin, related to the media that Angelica Holder will be part of the country’s 16-member group to the July 23 to August 8 global showpiece.

Holder, speaking on her role, explained: “As the COVID protocols relate, everyone travelling to Tokyo will be undergoing daily testing, twice a day. I would have to report on the current status of everyone- coaches, officials and athletes- including myself, on whether negative or positive results have been submitted.”

“I would also have to make arrangements with Tokyo if we have any persons testing positive, to get them isolated or get them to the hospital if symptoms are present. Luckily, I’m also a Physiotherapist who worked in the COVID unit so I can also handle any severe respiratory distress.”

Holder added: “Everyone in the delegation is required to download two Apps prior to travelling, one is the Ocha App, which is basically a health reporting App; that’s what they will use to report their status every day. When they arrive in Tokyo, they will have to download the Cocoa App, which is basically an App that everyone in the Olympic Village will be using via Bluetooth.”

The Cocoa App will record positive COVID-19 cases within the Olympic Village and notify persons who have been in close proximity to immediately isolate, Holder explained.

Meanwhile, Treasurer of the Guyana Olympic Association, Garfield Wiltshire, has been designed Chef-de-Mission of Team Guyana and four-time Olympian Aliann Pompey will travel as the Athlete Representative at the Games.

Below is Guyana’s full contingent to the Games:

Garfield Wiltshire- Chef-de-Mission

Angelica Holder- COVID Liaison Officer/Physiotherapist

Deion Nurse- Secretary General

Aliann Pompey- Athlete Representative

Julian Edmonds- Athletics Manager/Coach

Denzel Abrams- Athletics Coach

Idi Lewis- Table Tennis Coach

Sebert Blake- Boxing Coach

Shyka Gonsalves- Swimming Coach

Aliyah Abrams- (Athlete) Women’s 400m

Jasmine Abrams- (Athlete) Women’s 100m

Emanuel Archibald- (Athlete) Men’s 100m

Chelsea Edghill- (Athlete) Women’s Table Tennis

Keevin Allicock- (Athlete) 52-57kg Boxing

Aleka Persaud- (Athlete) 50m Freestyle

Andrew Fowler- (Athlete) 100m Freestyle