Local athletes eye Glasgow podium
(CNS): With the largest team that the Cayman Islands has ever sent to the Commonwealth Games, the 27 athletes will be hoping to bring back more than a Tam o'Shanter from their Scottish fling. Track star Cydonie Mothersill won Cayman’s first and only gold medal at the 2010 Games in Delhi but this time around all eyes will be on Ronald Forbes, David Hamil, Tyrell Cuffy, Troy Long, Carl Morgan, Carlos Morgan and Ashleigh Nalty and Kemar Hyman to bring back the sporting 'bling'. The international competition starts with the opening ceremony in Glasgow Wednesday evening (2pm local time), with the games starting on Thursday morning.
The Cayman Islands Olympic Committee said that Hyman should be considered a medal favourite when the sprinter takes to the track as his preparation for his races has been very technical.
"His coach is well aware of what Hyman’s true potential can be leading up to a race. His determination now is nothing like before, and if he stays focused, not only will he be one of the top contenders but also he will be the favorite to win," the committee said.
Ronald Forbes, Cayman's sprint hurdler, will also be looking to do a better job than his sixth place in the final in India with an eye on the podium, and long jumper Carl Morgan, who was down in 14th place in 2010, will also want to make a better impression on the rankings.
As well as the track and field stars, Cayman's athletes will be competing in the pool, the boxing ring, the shooting range the squash court and for the first tie in the gymnastic arena.
Myron Blair, Eilidh Bridgeman, Julian Jervis, Daniel Murphy, Cameron Stafford and Marlene West will be competing in squash, while Geoffrey Butler, Lara Butler, David Ebanks, Brett Fraser, Lauren Hew and Alex McCallum are the swimmers. Christopher Jackson, Edison McLean and Andrew Schirn form the shooting team. Boxer Tafari Ebanks and cyclist Michele Smith will be going it alone in their respective sporting disciplines for Cayman.
Finally, young Bethany Dikau (17) is the first Cayman gymnast to compete at the games and she will be competing on all four pieces of apparatus in the women's competition. The swimmers will be the first athletes going for Commonwealth glory, with Geoffrey Butler opening things up for the Cayman team in the pool for the men’s 400 meter heats.
Alongside the athletes and trainers, Governor Helen Kilpatrick and Sports Minister Osbourne Bodden and the chief officer in his ministry will be going along too.
Meanwhile, the team will also be armed with what usually prove to be some of the most popular pins at international games. The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Game pins for the Cayman Team were designed by Jamie Doak and are in the shape of a turtle wearing tartan.
The Olympic committee, which commissioned the pins, said they were happy to support local artists.
"We have very limited numbers and with all Games pins, they are available for sale at $5.00 locally or US$10 plus the cost of shipping if you are overseas. All funds raised go back into the development of sport and athlete preparation in the Cayman Islands," they explained.
Pins are available from the committee for $5 each for more information contact cioc2@candw.ky
For more information on the teams visit http://www.caymanolympic.org.ky and for more on the whole games go to http://www.glasgow2014.com
Category: Sports
Sounds pretty close to being accurate on the facts side. And the forecast is 80F/26C and sunny.
Children are starving, crime is way up and your Govt wastes money sending kids to compete in sports
that just shows the mentality of you people
Cayman is sick and needs help real bad
sad thing is that the people of cayman are too dumb to know they have big problems
Tafari will get a gold medal.
Arrrrrgh!!!
Great opening ceremony in Glasgow, but Osbourne Bodden & Jennifer Ahearn you let us down big time with the GLOBAL broadcasted remarks about The Cayman Islands when we entered the stadium!!! This is a political failure by the Govt team working with the Commonwealth Games. So busy packing for another paid-for jaunt, you forgot to do your job and represent us well?
WHO is feeding the information about us and who approved the message?? "Welcome, The Cayman Islands: Where there are are more registered companies than people…. A well known Tax Haven, and the first ever Winter Olympics athlete was just last year?" All 3 wriong or awful facts to make us look… um, er, very poor in the world's eyes..
Hello??? Coomonwealth Committee: Even Nigeria, Vanuatu, and Sierra Leone got better press? So WHO is in charge of relations?
A real Scottish wet and damp welcome today, ugh. Today I wish I was from Anguilla or the BVI, they were presented fairly, not us.
Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression and I am really sad this is what the world heard about us.
Wa ya say dem say bout we? Someone anyone get the bull priss pleeeeeease.
16:39 Why have you made this inti something political.I believe the Games Committee is in charge and not the politicians.
Glad to hear this was only the BBC stream. Maybe it is not the Ministry's job? But it does go to show that we need a better global message.
Good luck to our team!
Nothing like that was said on the Canadian broadcast. What makes you so sure that any Governemnt entity provided the "remarks" for the broadcast you saw?
I think the comment was that there were more registered entities, rather than companies, and in that regard including everything else that can be registered, such as LLP etc, the commentary would not seem incorrect, especially if "people" meant Caymanians.
You missed the point. The world doesn't look favorably upon these boasts of yesteryear. Not facts that boost tourism or add cachet. Just tacky and clued-out remarks that feed contempt for the Cayman Islands.
But accurate.
It would also have been accurate to say that Nigeria is a centre for con men and internet scams but I'll that is not what was said.
What makes you think that Jennifer and Osbourne are responsible for the remarks? The broadcast I saw (I am in Scotland) said that the winter Olympics athlete was in the half pipe, so I'm pretty sure that they didn't get their information from our government. Sounds like they made this up themselves.
Poster 16:39 do you really believe that the Minister Bodden who is a Native Caymanian would approve such a broadcast. Back in school I had a teacher who put it very plain in saying "if you don't have anything good to say or know of what you speak, please keep silent" to you I ask the same!
thats definitely an American comment. The Canadian network was much better. You really think they asked governments of all countries what they wanted to be said? Sigh