Caribbean Games 2009

Swine flu concerns forces decision

Port of Spain -19 June 2009

With twenty-two days to go before the 12 July opening ceremony.

“It is a heartbreaking moment,” says Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Larry Romany.

Romany was commenting on the decision taken by the T&T Government that due to the Influenza A H1N1 (Swine Flu) virus the twin-island Republic was withdrawing as host nation for the inaugural Caribbean Games.

The University of the West Indies Games currently underway at the UWI Campus in St Augustine is proving to be an ideal training ground for officials and volunteers of the Caribbean Games 2009.

Though on a much smaller scale, the UWI Games mirrors many of the processes and procedures of the larger Caribbean Games and the Local Organising
Committee, with the full co-operation of university officials, are using the UWI Games as a dry run to test some of their systems and procedures as well as staff capabilities.

U.S.V.I. athlete Laverne Jones clocked the fastest time in the world, this season, in the 200m at the recently held Grande** Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo Belém (BRA) in Brazil on Sunday. Ms. Jones is a confirmed member of the U.S.V.I contingent coming to compete in Trinidad for the Caribbean Games.  This will be the […]

Photo from the Meeting of the CANOC Executive with the LOC of the Caribbean Games 2009

If the recent performances by Caribbean athletes are anything to go by,spectators at the inaugural Caribbean Games scheduled for July 12-19 in T&T
are in for some world-class athletics.

Several Caribbean track athletes carded to compete in CG09 claimed podium honours and broke national records at the 25th edition of the prestigious Grande Prêmio Brasil Caixa – an athletic meet in Brazil which serves as a qualifier for the IAAF World Athletics Final set for Thessaloniki, Greece in September.

Laverne Jones of the US Virgin Islands was the top female performer after completing the sprint double in career best times. Jones clocked 11.18secs to win the 100m, ahead of Jamaican Sheri-Ann Brooks (11.33) and Aleen Bailey (11.33) in fourth and fifth positions.

Soon after, Laverne posted a world-leading 22.49secs to win the 200m.

Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad & Tobago with a new national record of 22.60 and Cydonie Mothershill of The Cayman Islands completed the podium finishes, while Brooks placed fifth with 23.04secs.

The Ladies did not stop there as Josanne Lucas came 2nd in 400m Hurdles and broke her own national record from 55.29 to 55.24.

The T&T Olympic Committee is deeply disappointed by the recent decision taken by the Pan American Sport Organisation (Paso), headed by Mario Vasquez Rana, to not give official Paso sanction to the inaugural Caribbean Games. During a meeting in Guadalajara, Mexico last week, the ruling Paso executive committee refused to recognise the Games, which will be held in Port-of -Spain from July 12 -19.