Photos by Ron Shillingford.  Double Click on each photo to enlarge

Ronald Shillingford

The Cayman Islands may not win any gold medals at the London Games but it is top of the podium with Olympic Solidarity, the body that helps fund all countries to boost their representation at the greatest show on earth.

Donald McLean is proud that Olympic Solidarity is impressed with how well Cayman has used its allocation of funds.

The Cayman Islands Olympic Committe had five Olympic Solidarity scholarships this quadrennial and all five qualified with ‘A’ standard times. No other country had all their scholarship holders qualify.

McLean, the president of the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee, said: “The Olympic Solidarity Scholarships for 2012 was nothing to do with academics, it is strictly financial assistance.

“The object is to get athletes qualified for the Games and we accessed $125,000 over two years from Olympic Solidarity for five athletes.

“We are the only country of 204 competing at the Games that qualified all the Olympic Solidarity London 2012 scholarships. Not only did we qualify but we did it with all ‘A’ standards and they are very impressed.

“When the new quadrennial comes out in January, in preparation for Rio de Janeiro in 2016, they might even increase ours because we did so well and for that I’m very pleased.”

Four of the five Cayman athletes at the London Games – Cydonie Mothersill, Ronald Forbes and the Frasers, Shaune and Brett – are full-time and funded by the government’s elite programme. Kemar Hyman has just graduated from university and will join the elite programme shortly.  Elite athletes receive around $40,000 annually.

“Obviously, we are thankful for the support of the government because just a $1,000 a month couldn’t do it,” added McLean. “So the cooperative effort between the government’s elite funding programme and the Olympic Committee through Olympic Solidarity is why we are able to field such a strong team.

“This time we applied for nine athletes and we had five qualified. Some countries applied for ten and only got one in. If you don’t qualify any athletes, you’re allowed to bring two in swimming and two in track and field, male and female. There are a lot of countries here with no qualified athletes. So a country like Cayman with five qualified athletes to ‘A’ standard is truly amazing.”

However, the three Cayman Islands track and field athletes at the London Olympics are primed and totally focused in mind and body for the ultimate test ahead.

Sprint queen Cydonie Mothersill, 34, goes in the women’s 200 metres on Monday, Kemar Hyman, 22, is in the men’s 100m from Saturday and Ronald Forbes, 27, starts his campaign in the men’s 110m hurdles on Tuesday.

Kenrick Williams, technical director of the Cayman Islands track and field programme, said on Friday: “Everybody is shaping up well.

“Ronald did today one of his workouts with his personal coach and looked good. Cydonie was also at the track and had her workout and Kemar did his final workout.

“Everybody is looking in good health, fine nick and they are ready to go. If all stays well, we definitely know that everybody will move to the second and third round.”

Scotland

The Cayman Islands contingent at the London Olympics came together for a lunch which served as a marvellous bonding session between athletes, coaches, officials and supporters.

All five athletes were there – swimmers Shaune and Brett Fraser and track aces Cydonie Mothersill, Ronald Forbes and Kemar Hyman. Coaches Kenrick Williams and Joey Scott attended too.

The supporters included Jim and Kyle Fraser, Annie Mae Roffey, Theo Bullmore, Pete Cunningham and the Whickers, Simon and Candy. Charles Parchment and Kate Kandiah from the London office of the  Cayman Islands Tourist Board also attended. Dennison Miller from the Tourist Board enjoyed the lunch too.

The officials there were Donald McLean (president of the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee), Lori Powell (chef de mission and Olympic Committee vice-president), Carson Ebanks (general-secretary), Doctor Dalton Watler (team manager), Bruce Blake (attache), Doctor Sook Yin-Eccles (swimming manager) and Ashley Stern (physio).

Donald McLean gave a rousing welcoming speech, congratulated the swimmers and inspired the athletes.

Representing the government was Minister of Sports Mark Scotland. He said: “I want to congratulate Shaune and Brett. They made the country proud. Both qualified for the semi-finals and to see them in the same semis was heart-warming and brought tears to one’s eyes.

“I know the whole country was watching and I got a lot of messages to pass on. They’ve set the tone now for the rest of the Games for the other athletes.

“This has been a huge collaboration between the government and the Olympic Committee and it’s shown how good we’re working together, having full-time athletes and Olympic Solidarity support for them.

“That is some $600,000 from the government alone in the past three years, plus the coaches and volunteers working with them back in Cayman and training overseas where they are full-time. It is no coincidence that we have five ‘A’ standard athletes here and that level of support will continue from the government.

“We are pushing for more of that level of athlete. It goes to show what it is going to take. No one gets to the Olympics anymore unless they are full-time athletes.

“Olympics are the highest level you can reach and unless you can identify that talent when they are very young and bring them through the system as full-time athletes, that’s the only way we’re going to grow our Olympic team. The government is going to continue that level of support.

“We are looking forward to the athletics with Kemar tomorrow and Cydonie who we are very, very proud of in her fifth Olympic Games and who has done so much for the sport.

“We are looking forward to her transitioning out of being an athlete and becoming a coaching and helping us in other areas in track and field in Cayman because of the wealth of experience she brings to the sport. We will continue to see how we can grow our Olympic team and sports in general.”

Ron Shillingford is the Cayman Islands Olympic Committee pool journalist who will be covering the London games for all local media.