While the outfit of Team Guyana at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympic Games attracted much attention and criticism on social media on Friday, Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. made a call for all to celebrate the achievements of the young Guyanese as they prepare to compete on the biggest stage of their careers.
After photos and videos of the Guyana contingent at the opening ceremony surfaced, many took to social media to criticise the design of the outfit, noting a specific colour of the national flag was notably missing.
The Sport Minister clarified that his Ministry was in no way involved in the design of the opening ceremony uniform, and that was solely the responsibility of the Guyana Olympic Association.
“I have seen comments critical of the colours of the uniform of the Guyana Olympic team and spurious allegations directed towards the Ministry for attempting to politicise the uniform in party colours,” Ramson Jr. said in a social media post.
“First, allow me to remind everyone that this is a time to celebrate the achievements of our young Guyanese who made it to the world stage to shine the spotlight on our beautiful country. For those young Guyanese Olympians, this is the fulfilment of one of their lifelong dreams.”
He added: “Are we really going to allow our petty political allegiance to diminish their deserving moment of glorious achievement? Are we that selfish? We must not be and we must never be. There are times to fight and there are times to unite. Internally we may have our differences, but on the world stage we must always remember “We Are One Guyana”. Never forget that!”
“For the sake of clarity, however, the Ministry was not and was never involved with the design of the uniform which includes the choice of colours. This is strictly the domain of the Guyana Olympic Association and I am advised that all of our national colours were represented.”
Guyana is being represented by seven athletes from four disciplines at the July 23 to August 8 Games.
Below is Guyana’s full contingent.
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