The People’s Business – July 14, 2024
TOPIC: Paris 2024, Team Barbados
Host:
Ann-Marie Burke
Guest:
1.) Gail Craig-Archer – Senior Office Administrator – Barbados Olympic Association
2.) Dr. June Caddle – 1st Vice President – Athletics Association of Barbados
3.) Robert Armstrong – President – Barbados Aquatic Sports Association
4.) Michael Jules – Track and Field Analyst
e e e e the people’s business is made possible by our partners Solar Dynamics the most efficient Energy [Music] Systems good evening and welcome to a very special edition of the people’s business n we’re talking sport and in particular Paris 2024 we are talking about team Barbados 12 days away from the 33rd Olympiad in Paris France only last week the Barbados team was announced and tonight we’re going to talk all about the four athletes representing Barbados and we’re going to get into the meat of the matter as to how our representation is expected to go in Paris joining me in the um people’s business tonight is Mrs Gil Craig Archer she is the senior office administrator at the barbas Olympic Association but also she’s going to wear the hot city name for the chef the mission Mr camberg who left for Paris only today so Gail good evening to you good evening and thank you so much for joining us also with me is Dr Jun cattle she’s the first vice president of the Athletics Association of Barbados of course Barbados will be represented by two athletes at the Olympiad good evening to you Dr cattle a very good evening to you a slight correction is I’m actually the second vice president oh thank you so much for that correction thank you so the second vice president of the Athletics Association of Barbados also joining me Mr Robert Armstrong he’s the president of the Barbados Aquatics Sports Association swimming will be represented yet again they have one athlete on the team good evening to you Robert good evening I’m and of course not last but no by no means least Mr Michael jwes track and field analyst but I’m going to call him everything Sports he’s going to give us the Roundup view of everything tonight good evening to you Mr Jules good evening to you an Marie good evening to the esteemed panelists yes definitely so don’t you go anywhere we’ll be right back as we talk about Paris 2024 team Barbados on tonight’s people’s business [Music] [Music] and welcome back to the people’s business tonight as I mentioned we would would have been speaking about Paris 2024 and team Barbados now I’m mentioning team Barbados but who are those athletes we have four persons representing Barbados in track and field Shad Williams she’ll be representing Us in the women’s 400 MERS event in the women’s 100 met there is Tristan eeling and then in swimming we have Jack Kirby and Triathlon Matthew Wright so those are our four athletes representing Barbados at the 33rd Olympiad now Gail I’m going to go to you first because obviously the team has to be managed in some way and this is where the barbas Olympic Association comes in all the time every four years as mentioned camberg who’s the chef the mission he’s off to Paris as of today preparing for the team to arrive at the games now persons here the term Chef the mission you yourself would have functioned in that capacity in a number of the international competitions what is the role like for the chef and what can Cami expect to be doing in preparation as well as durin the games for team Barbados well um each games is different it comes with its own um challenges because as you can imagine each country has their own laws the rules the regulations the organizing committee for each game will do things um to the best of their ability and based on the budgets that they were given by the government of the day the chef de mission’s Role is as a suggest he is in charge he or she is in charge of everything games related for team barbad as um travel accommodation meals um transport medical um all the functional areas doing control everything so I can say it Barbados parala the chief cook and bottle washer for Barbados is the chef the mission yes now also too I’m going to throw this one out to Dr cattle Dr cattle I almost would say track and field has shareholders ship in the Barbados Olympic team from the beginning obviously track and field is also the sport that we do have I’m going to say two Olympic medals of course James Redburn at the time under the West Indies Federation and then Obel Thompson again you have representation I think shade was a given but then in the late stages Tristan came into play due to her world ranking how do you feel as an association again being able to field two teams at these Elite games well we do have two outstanding World ranked athletes that must be said in in any case um the the regulations as Gail mentioned differ so this time around um the athletes who we were we were tracking we were tracking and we had the expectation of about five six athletes making it but the ones we were tracking were still ranked um in the top 100 but this time around that was not enough they set some standards for the numbers of athletes that were expect for events so for example in the 400 MERS um they top that off at 40 and um in the some of the other events they to off at 56 so at 56 we were watching the we were watching the rankings as they went up to make sure that we at least could secure a place or two and what did help was the fact that there were only three per country allowed so some even even though some of the rank some of the athletes were ranked higher of course um there would have been five or or six down with the countries who had a lot of depth in in the particular in the particular events so um that is how we were able then to take advantage of our of our top ranked athletes and have the two outstanding young women make the team and we we’re pleased with it and for me I’m going to slay in Mr Jules here because you mentioned that there were world rankings we had athletes within the top 100 that we would have expected to make the team but one of the major talking points among the track and field fraternity that maybe the standards were a little high this year for the Olympic Games Mr juice I’m going to let you weigh in here um Dr C was eluded to the fact that we had athletes performing at that level but then not making the cut at the end of the day because of the standards what is your thoughts on how the selection was done this time for the Olympic Games in Paris yes um I I do agree with Dr cattle the world Athletics they made a decision to start reducing the number of athletes who would be advancing to the Olympic Games and I think athletes knew that this would be a little difficult for them and therefore they needed to to step up um in their performances um some people started out quite well and as you can see quite recently we had some great performances coming from athletes um one to note is actually in the women’s 400 meters um Salwa Ed Nasser from Bahrain she she was on the doping um she was she was out for about two years on a doorin suspension uh she came back and she’s actually in there now and war that I will be keeping my eyes on so yes um having The Stance um so so rigid I think athletes needed to rise to the occasion okay now going we’re going to go back to the discussion of qualification but I want to slide in Robert here Robert just like track and feel swimming within the past few olympas has been able to field at least one or two swimmers this year you have Jack Kirby coming in ja again coming in as a l entry but nevertheless he’s there um what are what is your position from the association point of view to know that yet again you can have an Olympian yes we are extremely proud of um the achievement to have J on team this year um we would have loved to have at least two male one m one female however you know as um Dr C alluded um there were some changes this year that um terms of Standards higher standards and and that prevented to athletes now Gail preparation for the team people usually think it just starts about few weeks before but I know the team goes through a lot more than just being prepared for the games physically and in terms of their discipline but the boa also instills other training programs for them what are the other training programs in the lead up to the Olympic Games I know people think it begins a year before or a few months before but it begins at the end of every Olympiad into the fouryear period so what is it like yes um actually now we are looking forward we’re looking towards Los Angeles 2028 as soon as this one finishes Olympic solidarity will start put in place their programs to assist the athletes with funding for the next four years um and for us coming out of covid as you would remember Tokyo was held two years after the actual event was planned and so Paris kind of came like really quickly behind that because it’s like just a twoyear span but as soon as Tokyo was finishing up we were head long into preparations for Paris um the athletes as you would know have been training and trying very hard to make their qualifying standards uh as we speak actually two of the athletes arrived in their training camps today um I was just on the phone with um France because Jack Cur he just arrived at his training camp in moh house his flight was late so we had to make changes to his flight in London so the coach ended up going ahead of him the coach got there about 11:30 and Jack got there just about 20 minutes ago and this is on Paris time so you do this six hour time difference um Tristan arrived in Venice Italy about two hours ago and she is going to be there training with shad up until I think the 25th of this month before she then heads off to the Village so the athletes are definitely doing their best there’s a lot of training going on um Matthew is right now doing his final preparation and training as well so it’s um it’s it’s not an easy Road for them um most people think that they just get up six months or eight months before um before uh major games there’s a lot of preparation a lot of Blood Sweat and Tears and a lot of funding that goes into the preparation for the athletes I’m glad you mentioned funding and preparation and this is where you go to Dr cattle Dr cattle what is it like in terms of getting a track and feeld athlete to that Elite stage I know we do have the big elephant in the room which is we do not have a National Stadium but outside of that it goes beyond that there’s a lot more that you have to invest to get an athlete to this Elite level so what would you say takes for us to get Olympians to be a Shad Williams to be oel Thompson to be Andre blackhead what does it take to get an athlete there so you’re saying that you want to see more more over was more Shad um at at the top of the game um is there with the medals um obviously World ranked and with other people aspiring to be like them by the same token then we have um to invest at different levels so for the Grassroots we are actively within the world Athletics program where the investment goes into the the athletes um The Run jump throw um preparation so this year we will have at least one person qualifying to go to the Train the trainers preparation camp in which um they will have the opportunity then to come back to Barbados and share that knowledge with other other coaches who would have contact with the young athletes so that’s at one level so we need to put some some funding into that of course attractive facilities um draw people draw we talking about young people for of energy in in a very highly stimulated world where they lights and color so the attractive facility that is fit for purpose is would be perfect and we’re really really looking forward to that and we really do think yes that will contribute to the next group of O Olympians right we do have some really good people with o l y behind the names and that cannot be discounted we had people like sh back we were looking at rash Dan these are people who are at the level so some investment needs to go back into those who are on the crust on the crest and about to break through up into the World level so that they can be counted and and you know be within the 56 or within the 40 as as World affx determines so that money has to go in there so it’s facilities and we need to look at opportunities for training the big um challenge for us because of where we’re situated is access to competition we do have some very well trained highly trained um really good coaches who do their best we have some good programs within the clubs of course we can put some more money in there to strengthen that that club program so we have those feeder programs and we’re concentrating on tackling from those ends we have a lot of athletes whose objetive is to go to the United States and benefit from that into Collegiate program they have competition just about every week and that tends to bring them on along with some you know some better facilities in some instances and um and know a different a a total difference in environment so we we need then that kind of takes care of itself and that is an investment that comes to us because the value of those scholarships is really great um if we were to count the amount of money that is worth we we would have to be able to put that in the C if you’d be really You’ be doing really well so at the level then of people who have determined that TR Fe is their career and they need to make money they need to live off that then they have to be at the level that they can attract the type of sponsorship that will take care of all their needs competition needs medical needs living housing you know all all all the welfare all the welfare things and we do have to spend money in other programs like safeguarding antidoping education so so it is you know there are lot of aspects and we look when we do our strategic planning we look at all those aspects and determine should we get access to the funding well we will then reprioritize and make sure that we can support all those different needs and of course you’ll see more L oys okay thank you so much Dr Cy we’re going to stick a pain here in our discussion and when we return we continue to talk about Paris 24 and team or B us as we are just 12 days away from the 2024 Olympic [Music] Games e e [Music] and welcome back to the people’s business where tonight’s topic we’re looking at Team Barbados as we prepare for the 2024 Olympic Games in our prayer discussion Dr K would have spoken about what track can feel needs to do to ensure that they do have not only Elite athletes but a succession plan in place that gives us the leverage to actually have athletes at that highest level this is where I go to Robert now in swimming Robert what is your take on what you need I do know at the junior level Cora you can see that you’re reaping the rewards there how do you do to have a feeder program from there to ensure that you can get swimmers to the elite level and continue to produce Olympians in your sport well for us um we believe that we need to get more of our senior swimmers when they leave the coral level and the the AG group level into the colleges and and into competition at the highest level NCAA and so on and that helps their uh development swimming against the best swiers world Jo in that college system um G them the opportunity to swim Out World competition World Championships and so on um so to sharpen their skills and ceration for Olympics at the lower level we need to get more people into Swimming by developing more learn swim programs and making sure that persons transition from learn swim into compactive swimming um a lot of people in this generation just as a life skill and we need to get more people into Conta this okay now we’re going to open the lines as well to you viewers out there if you want to win on our discussion the the actual numbers to call are 228 5562 and 228 5563 if you want to join our discussion now I’m going to also get into the meat of the matter with you Mr Jules now we’re focusing on track and field we have swimming we Al also have triathon and we heard from Matthew right in a few which our only who will be competing in that discipline but generally it is a small team it is one of the smaller teams we fed in quite a while what does that say about sport as a whole on Barb in Barbados I know we focus predominately on what are our Key sports but we do still have disciplines out there that are Olympic disciplines are not being represented since covid it has been a kind of Hard Road for for sports teams um and we are now seeing things starting to to to come back on um you know in track and field we had missed the KFA games for a while um and there were some other disciplines where nothing wasn’t really happening so I believe that we are now starting to see things develop once again and um you talked about the 28 Olympic Games and I’m sure Gail will mention that that Cricket is supposed to be played at the 20208 Olympic Games um we are four years away from that so we we’ll see how how things will pan out with um the different national teams trying to qualify for the 2028 Olympics um but I believe that we will see things starting to pick up over the next couple of years um as National associations see the Avenues opening up for teams to participate Etc um I think we will see things start to pick up okay now we do have a caller good evening to you um you’re joining our discussion we’re talking about Paris 2024 good evening yes hi great evening how you doing I’m fine thank you are you oh GL that’s Parker good responsibility you’re responsible for this call let me that the production team for taking my call um I have a couple of questions for the panel there um Miss ber um yes the first question is for Captain Michael Juan um good night to you sir good night how are you yes good night yes I’m fine thank you very much um just asking um here um now the future looks very bright for barbarus in terms of you would have just mentioned the 2028 Cricket uh in terms of um our cricket team Barbados looks very prosperous uh we could get some medals there in terms of cricket uh for the 2028 Olympics and the future obviously looks very bright because we have Juniors yes as well in terms of the uh Heidi Stout in swimming that’s another discipline that we can have a lot more medals there for and and and this has been something that has captured us for a long time because we’ve not been able to do very well but now we have the opportunity to do very well even this year with shade so my first question uh I have one more what would be what would a bronze medal be like for Barbados now at this time Captain jws what would a bronze medal mean to us in terms of Barbados not having a National Stadium in terms of barbad us not having um all of these drawbacks Co and and and the hurricane that just hit us the bronze better mean to us now I have a I have a second question for um Dr C your finish please okay well let let me try to answer that first question I think regardless of covid or whatever a bronze medal would be significant for Barbados um I also want to make this point though um that all of the athletes who have done extremely well at the Olympic Games Commonwealth Etc their training they were base overseas so when people talk about but facilities there is a need for us to have um facilities at a her level than what we have in Barbados right now and that’s the reason why the athletes go overseas to where they can access facilities where they can access different a higher level of of services so but to answer your question I believe that a bronze medal will definitely put Barbados on a high that would be brilliant it would be fantastic out this world and Dr C thank you so much Dr cattle good night to you Ma’am uh yes um I have a question for you um in terms of the qualifications to the Olympics and the standards being very high this year and we would not that we God forbid we wouldn’t want any injuries to the athletes because we would have seen that when the standards were even higher with you and you you know um being injured in his last race very sad um what are we doing to safeguard um our future for the Barbarian athletes in terms of the lack of injuries in terms of being boasted for better nutrition in terms of being boasted for a better um standard of qualification as the standard of qualifications get even higher than the standard of you say in his time back in 208 for that Olympics uh period thank you thanks for your question um interestingly enough whenever we prepare team Junior Team the youth team crypto team um Olympics team they’re always educational components included so from the time the athlete starts to approach National level at whatever age they would have been exposed to information and access to tools for proper nutrition for protection from injury we all we try as much as possible as far as possible to travel with a physiotherapist a massage therapist and the doctor wherever that is possible and if that is not possible we’ll go with the physio because the physio is able to on the spot deal with the recovery deal with things with like lymphatic drainage and and all those kind of things which you know which sometimes the massage therapist will be be tasked to do so we we try to ensure that we protect the athletes of course they are go out there exerting themselves trying the very hardest straining their Senus all their muscles to the to the largest extent on behalf of the country and when they step off the track we are there to hold them they make sure they get the ice baths and the massages and the whatever stimulation they need um that is done in the safest way possible and from the athletic association point of view we ensure that that is done for all our teams that travel at at least one person um representing medical personnel and I just want to wa in and say that that happens right across the board Dr cattle where it is a mandatory really at the international games to have that so if the caller had a concern it’s mandatory that we cover all bases to ensure that our athletes are at their Peak so thank you so much caller we do have another call good evening and thank you for joining our discussion hello good evening yeah good evening the in the panel good evening and it’s anarie good evening anarie sorry about that yeah to you and the panel first thing we have to find out what the Jamaicans are doing and then we have to get more serious at sport and start making sport I want you to expand on that statement please where you say to stop making sport at sport expand a bit more on what do you mean by that wall you’re throwing so let me let me get that expansion please right we wait we wait till our police do good and then B up the place and you know we doing um pick them up from early like when they leave the bak and thing and give them the um sufficient nutrition and really look after our police and we only look after our police after they do well well let me throw that one out Gil Gil let me throw that want at you because obviously the boa has that management at some point in time with these national teams what do you think about um what the col just said about being proactive and not Rea reactive and not proactive well I I I I think the the boa and all the national federations we we all put um our best foot forward and we we really go above and beyond for the athletes we don’t just wait until they medal or they do well and come back home and and then recognize them or or we then try throwing money behind them after the fact we we and I when I say we I mean the boa and the national federations we really try and put measures in place for our athletes apart from funding there’s the mental preparation there’s the training um etc for all of the athletes um one thing I must say though that what people need to realize is we live on an island anytime that we need to send an athlete somewhere the first thing we need to look for is an airfair air fear from Barbados to St Lucia St Vincent Trinidad it’s going to cost you on top of that you’re going to have to find accommodation for the athlete and an official whether that is the coach coach slash manager coach manager doctor physio massage therapist and that goes for all the sports so in saying that I’m saying that yes we do put measures in place ahead of time before our athletes medal or they do really well at Regional or International meets so we do have that proactive approach yes I do agree with that to that point okay we’re going to take a break here again and we return in just a few we’re watching the people’s business and we’re talking about Paris 2024 team Barbados [Music] St e e [Music] now if you have just joined us this is the people’s business where tonight we’re talking Sports in particular Paris 2024 team Barbados our guest and our panel tonight Gail Greg Archer she is the senior office administrator at the barbus Olympia Association Dr Jun cattle second vice president of the Athletics Association of Barbados we have Mr Robert Armstrong of he’s the president of the Barbados Aquatics Sports Association and Mr Michael jwes who is our track and field analyst now as I would have mentioned before we have four athletes competing at the games for Barbados in track and fi Shad Williams and Tristan eeling we have swimmer Jack Kirby and Matthew Wright in Triathlon and earlier Matthew Wright would have sat down with our very own Anar Goodridge boys to talk about his preparation ahead of the games and here now is Matthew’s take on how he is ready for Paris 2024 or or will be actually an Olympian come July 27th yeah I think I think it’s now starting to really sink and now we’re getting getting closer to the to the games you know as you said our team was finally announced a few days ago um and yeah obiously I knew I knew I was qualified probably for a good almost two months now um which has been great obviously for me to prepare you know get everything organized ahead of time you know I feel you know some of the track athletes and stuff only had their Nationals like last week so you know it’s very late late knowing but I think now we’re getting closer ready get you know I catch myself on the old training session when what it’s going to be like you know I’m racing in the middle of Paris with all my family and my friends watching and screaming at me and I just said extent in your country and and filling my yeah lifelong dream and it’s just yeah this is the epitome isn’t it like there’s there’s no higher higher height than than going to the Olympics in in sports yeah tell me now about your your training has that changed in the lead up to the Paris games uh it hasn’t trained drastically um we’ve changed the structure just a little bit as the game my race is going to be on a Tuesday while usually I tend to race on a weekend in a normal in a normal season so we’ve kind of readjusted the week a bit so that I can get as much training in as possible and be ready for for a Tuesday race as opposed to usually a Saturday race um so it’s probably more a touch change in schedule um but I think the content of what I’m doing is it’s pretty similar I think a lot of the advice I was given you know last year when I was close to qualifying was don’t go and try to rewrite the script you know what you were doing this level because I think a lot of people obviously you you you’re trying to do things let fine tune everything and be as best as you can but you know I don’t as you say a lot of people just that that bit too far and end up you know either getting sick or getting injured before the game so we’re really kind of aware of that so we’re trying to keep it almost as yeah as normal as I I’m used to but at the same time we’re just trying to push it that little few percent more so that I make sure I’m I’m in my you know career Best Fitness come come July 30th tell me what your goals um for the for the for this foron in Paris yeah so I think overall I think I’m capable of a top 20 um of course you’re always trying to hang your hat on the magic of the Olympics and hope that you could maybe have an an even better performance but I think what we’ve shown in the last year and based on the guys I’m going to go against I think top 20s in is very possible um but overall how I want to race strong from the front I want to have a good swi you know they might potentially be a break away from the swim you know the the French guys aren’t the quickest Runners but if they want to get a medal they need to kind of break away from the quicker Runners and so I think they’re going to push the swim and the bite really hard and I would love to be at the front with those guys you know um pushing the swim and the bite and and then being able to hang on as best I can in the run because these these guys nowadays are running super fast or they’re running 29 flat for 10K um off of the bike and you know for me I’m I’m more of a 31 flat kind of 10K guys so I know I don’t have the Run speed of these these um the crazy crazy Runners so if we can get out get out in front on the bike um that gives me a better chance to have a much better race but um but yeah so that’s the plan to race hard hopefully race at the front so we can you know everyone back home can see the yellow suit up front for as long as possible um and obviously I’m going to going to fight all the way to the end so as you just heard that is Matthew right he is going to be representing Barbados in Triathlon at the Paris Olympic Games Mr jwes um listening to Matthew just now he would have mentioned wanting to finish in the top 20 I know the aim quite often is to get on the podium every athlete wants to get on the podium at the Pinnacle most importantly however these athletes these four athletes would have reached their Pinnacle in their sport to actually get to the level to be representing the island what would you say to those athletes those four athletes as they go into the Olympic Gam well definitely for each athlete I believe that them and the coaches would have set goals um and one of the major goals would be obviously to make it to the Olympics and and and then what is the next goal once you make it to the Olympic games um I think Matthew is quite clear on what he wants to achieve um for for shade Williams I I I believe that her goal will be to make it into the final and I’m quite sure that she can do so based on how things have been going she has been improving um she had a 4980 which was her best time for the season and that was in June um and I believe that her goal will be to advance to the final um so I do believe that each of these athletes and their coaching staff management teams have have set some specific goals and one of the things about setting goals is the goals must be realistic so it would not be fair to either the coach or the athletes also to the public to say an athlete is going to make it to a final when when we already know where they stand in terms of their performance yes so again um a top 20 for Matthew Wright I think that’s a realistic goal for him um for Kirby it might be the same thing to finish in the top 20 in his event um it’s going to be a little tough for um Tristan Evin but um I believe the goal for her may be to get out of that first round and see where she goes um last her last outing at the Olympics she she only made it she only had one run and that was in the first round so I think a realistic goal for her would be to get out of the first round and and proceed and the thing about goal setting is once once you make it once you have met that goal then you can start going again and setting another goal so that’s what I would say in terms of these four athletes and Robert I’m going to throw at you of course I’m going to let you focus a bit more on Jack in terms of his um goal he’s going to compete in the 100 met freestyle and that is one of the more competitive events within the swimming program what do you think of his chances in that event well J is a you know very very free swimmer he actually know brought his own record in free in April at the Bahamas um Nationals achievement at 4931 um before he held that record 4978 so he’s lowering his time each time he swim um he’s you know pushing to do better I believe that his goal will be to make the semi-finals and then the finals if possible if he does make the semi-final he will possibly end up in finish in top 20 hopefully okay now for you Dr C do you think shade gets that extra pressure because Barbados has she carries the weight really of the team in Paris as with the expectancy that she will make that Podium this presently sh is ranked fourth in the world in her event the 400 meters so she’s not to carry any weight she is to look at her race and a avoid any errors that’s all she has to do just run errors free just stick to the plan and she’s a very serious talented athlete very serious in her approach she takes care of all the things that she needs to take care of so what we do as a team is ensure that we stay together and manage any little challenges that come up in between so realistically when you’re in the first four When You’re Number Four in the world there’s there are always things that are possible so she just needs to ensure that she doesn’t make any errors in the early stage or when she makes the errors recovers from them fully show the resilience that we know barbarians have and keeps charging on because as long as you’re in that final eight anything can happen and when you’re a ban things happen things happen I agree with you girl from your end you spoke briefly about the logistical part of getting the athletes into Paris of course there’s a climatization and we see the athletes coming in pretty early 12 days out and you already said Tran is in Europe as already Shad is in Europe already Jack arrived today we all well Matthew is based in the UK so he’s just going to go over to France but how important is it for the athletes to get over to that area or to that place the place where they are actually going to come compete so they can acclimatize in time for their events um yeah it’s very important for them um like June June’s technical meeting is on the 25th for tracking field so after her technical meeting and after swimming’s technical meeting they will then go to the actual competition venue and there are some athletes like shady is on the world stage so she might be more comfortable um looking up from the blocks and seeing 75,000 people but for another athlete um looking around at such a huge Stadium it might play a little havoc on their mental preparation and and their psyche so it’s important that the athletes going early they see what their training venue is like they go to the competition venue they get familiar with the call room what they need to do where they need to be um they need to have their accreditation with them at all times you know things like that so that on the day of competition um it it’s not new to them and they’re not in a in a panic they they would know what bus they need to get from the village to the competition venue um they would know how long it takes them to get there they’ll know where to actually go pick up the bus so they need that’s why we always encourage the athletes to arrive maybe like five days before they actually event so that they’ll iron out all of these little kinks okay now we do have a caller someone wants to weigh in on our discussion good evening to you good evening to the panel good evening good evening um I’m listening to the panel there but I’m a little disappointed that this time around we are sending athletes to Paris because we all know Tristan cannot beat nobody in that 100 met she can’t beat the Jamaicans she can’t beat the Trinidad she can’t beat the the British and she can’t beat the Americans so it’s a r of thing I think this time what I think what we should have done is that should have hold back athletes for Paris this time around look at our chant from the Bap andou mold them and see if we can have some of them for the next or four years but right now we wasting we wasting money right now then people the yes sh is our best bet but to send office to Paris we know we know we can hold blows uh I I want to win on this one then I’ll allow the other the panel to wa on it as well I think the the aim of the Olympic Games and I think it comes in the Mandate of the Olympic Games it’s not that you an athlete just gets there to medal you are at the peak of your sport when you become an Olympian there’s standards that are set I don’t believe you should degrade any athlete that reaches that Pinnacle of a standard to say oh they’re going and it’s a waste of money it’s never a waste of money in sport you do have to have a winner you do have to have a loser by the end of the day everybody’s the winner when they reach that Pinnacle to go to the Olympic Games which is the peak of any sport across those disciplines I’m not going to open it to the panel to respond to the um the caller I think because he he mentioned specifically track and field Mr juice maybe you would like to to take that lead from from me in that regard um not not a problem all I would say to the caller is the and you you alluded to it um there are qualifying standards Once An Athlete reaches and surpasses the qualifying standards that athlete is eligible to go to the Olympic Games the same thing applies for Commonwealth Games and for several other games once the athlete gets there we don’t know what’s going to happen I mean Cas in point we had there was a an athlete from from Canada called perita Felician and she was ranked number one in the world going into the Olympic Games and guess what she did not medal she did not even make it pass the first round M I also so that opened up a space for another athlete to get into the final actually to to get a medal so to say that an athlete qualifies and you don’t give them that opportunity then that’s not a good thing at all sir so I think all of the national associations are on the same page in that regard Once An Athlete reaches the qualifying standard they have the opportunity to go and represent the country I do agree and also to a representing the country gaining that experience they help to build their momentum not only for the Olympics but for other International compet Ians as well we’re going to take a break yet again and return here on our discussion on Paris 2024 and team [Music] Barbados e [Music] and welcome back to the people’s B tonight we’re talking Sports in particular Paris 2024 we’re going to take one final caller good evening hi good evening how you doing I’m fine thank you and you welcome all the all the panel um I tend to um go with what the gentleman said this now as a matter of fact sometimes I tend to think the problem is not the it’s the problem the people that send them and how s May answer or actually he has the caller is gone um I I don’t think we’re going to even entertain that because it goes on the same vein as the previous caller but never to say the less we do have a team of five athletes set to represent Barbados and as at this stage we’re going to do our final wrap I’m going to start with you Dr cattle you have two athletes representing your sport track and field what do you say to the public to support shady and Tristan I just want to reiterate that we have two excellent athletes two excellent women in sport such role models for the young ladies that are Barbadian and and from across the Caribbean the Caribbean has been doing a fantastic job with female Athletics and we Barbados is upfront there with them right Tristan is not at the same level as shedi at the moment all it takes is one good race one good race and her rating goes all the way up she has been trying she has been faithful she has worked hard she has sacrificed she’s following her jeal career where she has academic goals as well as as as as sporting athletic athletic goals and she has been faithful in all this and I think she is an excellent investment at this time 26 years old um 25 years old she has another Olympus behind her and I think that all the barbadians need to do is put as much Bean energy positive Bean energy because you know we have the other kind you heard it but positive beijan energy we want every ounce of positive beijan energy behind those athletes they’re just two one chance at a time one step at a time can you not support them all way I am willing to support them fully all the way and their best effort is well done for me and we expect the best from them and we know they’ll give us all they have I’ve seen it before I’ve been there before and I don’t know who hasn’t been there but you need to be there when the app gives everything they have for this ultramarine and gold so you better keep your your your comments positive you better be encouraging and if it doesn’t go well you better help to dust them off and get them ready for the next one because we’re competitive we’re competitive we’re not going there we are competitors on the front line leading things get [Music] that get as part of the psyche and give us all the energy all the positive energy you have all the positive comments we don’t want to destroy athletes we want to build them and we want to show the young athletes who are in the chrest that it is worth it to put the effort in that people will support them that even when things don’t go well that they will get that support to help them to make the next step and another opportunity for Success on the world stage that’s where we’re going we’ve been there before we’ve done there before we’ve had world champions we’ve had Olympic medals we’ve got come above Champions these are the same people born and bred right here with all positive energy keep it up people we appreciate it the Association we spend many many hours preparing having meetings hosting meets being there for them and the whole athletic fraternity parents and everything we know we know what we put into it and we know what the athletes put into it help them that’s all be asking you I agree with you Dr cattle definitely keeping it positive and for you Robert as shad and Tran set to lay all on the track for Jack he set to lay all in the water in the pool yes um the baral sports so Central are full support behind Jack ja I in my mind I always think of him like AIT in water if he’s a fighter he’s not going to go there and just you know go through emotions he’s good he’s going to go there he’s going be competitive he’s going to do his best that he can do on the day and I encourage every Barbadian locally and to to put their full support behind him um show your support in your homes while you’re cheering out the race show your support media get out there that we are behind our athletes we are behind our team bar um we expect good things from great things from Jack and we look forward to the results thank you so much and Gail I’m going to let you speak on behalf of Matthew Matthew’s Journey was a long one but definitely rewarding for him yeah Matthew um has come a long way um he fought hard for the 2022 Tokyo but that didn’t work out for him but now he is here he is doing his best and I know he will do his best to make it into that top 20 for all the other athletes Jack Shady Tristan Echo what both Dr cattle and Robert said the athletes need our support um we don’t just wait until something exciting happens and we all rush to the airport and we do a morade we don’t we don’t need that we need your moral and your spiritual and every kind of support Behind These athletes right now it’s very hard for an athlete to go out there not do well and then because June Dr K will tell you it is very depressing for for them they feel as though they’ve let the whole country down and it’s it’s difficult trying to pull them back from from that state of mind so we we don’t we don’t need the negative energy we need all the positive energy for these athletes and I’m hoping that Barbados throws all their way and support behind them thank you so much Mr jwes I want you to wrap it up in one sentence as we’re counting down the clock one sentence wrap it all up for us so all of these athletes have qualified they have the right to be there at the Olympic Games to represent Barbados and I would like all of Barbados to Rally around these four athletes where are blue yellow and black and give them our fullest support thank you so much could it be better said by my panel I just want to before I go let you know the actual schedule for our athletes a first person out will be um Matthew on July 30th the triathlon on that same day July 30th Jack will also be in the pool for the opening runs of the 100 meter freestyle and then on August 2nd which will be the second day of the track and fi program Tristan has her first round in the 100 meters and then Shad will hit the track on August 5th for the first round of the women’s 400 m thank you so much to my panel Dr cattle Gail Craig Archer we have Mr jwes as well as Robert Armstrong and also to Matthew Wright who would have previously been interviewed by Anar good voice he was hard that training and he gave us that little blood to ensure that he can let barbadians know that he’s putting his best foot forward in terms of representing the country and I also Echo the words of my panel to say let us rally around team Barbados it’s a small unit but nevertheless when they walk through the stadium they are going to be representing the country Gil who’s that flag for us on the for the opening cmon our flag bearer is actually Jack and Shady right Jack and Shady will be the flag bearer so yes so you see them on the opening day for the opening ceremony thank you so much for joining us also to the callers who joined our discussion this has been the people’s business where we spoke about Paris 2024 I’m team Barbados I’m Anar bur good evening [Music]