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[SWIMMING]
Swimming
Gold
Posted April 22, 2003
Watts with Grenada flag shortly after gold medal presentation
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Tuesday Watts swam for her life and
ended with Grenada's first female ever to win gold at the CARIFTA Swimming Championships in
Jamaica on the weekend. Watts won the 400m freestyle in the 11-12 girls
category. Watts completed the first 100m in
1:10.76 and finished the course in 4:54.69. She was ahead of her main rivals
Aria Vanderpool-Wallace of the Bahamas and Gillian Stewart of Jamaica, as she
clocked the second fastest final lap split (1:10.38).
Earlier, Watts sliced her rivals
Vanderpool-Wallace and Stewart to pick up silver in the 200m freestyle
(2:19.18). Samantha La Qua competed in the breaststroke and had to settle for a
bronze in the 200m 11-12 age category in a time of 3:07.11. She was behind
Bahamians Alicia Lightbourne and Anthaya Rolle.
Watts' performance equalled the feat
of Jumi Yuventi who won Grenada's first gold medal at CARIFTA Swimming at the
Barbados Championship in 2000. Yuventi copped gold in the 100m freestyle and
silver in the 200m freestyle in the 11-12 boys category. |
Five of the eight Grenadian swimmers
were finalists in their respective events. "All the finalists improved on
their performance and this was pleasing and rewarding," remarked the head
coach, Jessie Martin.
The performance of the swimmers have
strengthened the call by local swimming officials for a 50m pool.
President of the Grenada Amateur
Swimming Association (GASA) Derek Steele, who was among officials greeting the
swimmers on their arrival, said the improved performance is testimony that the
swimmers are rising to the occasion. "Now with a gold medal I hope the
authorities will see the need for a proper pool for our swimmers," Steele
told reporters at the Point Salines International Airport on Tuesday.
However, Steele is hopeful that the
pool will be a reality. "We are closer to getting it (pool) but the land
remains a problem. We've tried Morne Rouge but was turned down. We'll get the
pool," he said.
The swimming president said
sponsorship remains a problem for their participation in regional and
international competitions.
For this championship, the
association received assistance from the Grenada Olympic Association, St.
George's University and the Grenada Electricity Services Limited. Some of the
swimmers' parents also contributed towards the Jamaica trip.
Samantha La Qua |
Five members of the CARIFTA eight (8) member swimming team |
CARIFTA
SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
APRIL 19- 21, 2003
Final Team Rankings
Combined Team Scores
Place Team Points
1 Jamaica JAM 770 .50
2 Trinidad and Tobago TRI 625
3 Bahamas BAH 546
4 Cayman Islands CAY 532
5 Antilles Guyane Francaise AGF 374
6 Netherlands Antilles AHO 355 .50
7 Barbados BAR 265
8 Suriname SUR 165
9 Virgin Islands Swimming VISF 140
10 St Lucia LCA 51
11 Grenada GRN 47
12 Aruba Selectie ARUBA 35
Total 3,906.00
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