The 2024 edition of the Central American & Caribbean Swimming Confederation (CCCAN) Championship ended over the weekend, with Barbados securing 19 medals –six gold, nine silver, and four bronze.
The local swimmers’ haul from the competition in the Mexican city of Monterrey, in which over 750 swimmers from 30 territories participated, put the island fifth in the medals table.
Danielle Treasure took one of Barbados’ six gold medals in the women’s 18 & Over 200m backstroke. But it was Heidi Stoute whose stellar performance lifted her team. In the girls 13-14 division, she got five individual gold medals, sweeping all distances of the freestyle – 800m, 400m, 200m, 100m, and 50m.
Also in the 13-14 class, the versatile Jaiya Simmons is bringing home silver in the 100m freestyle, 200m butterfly, and 400m individual medley, and bronze in the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly.
Stoute and Simmons also helped the girls 13-14 team, including Isabella Mayers and Toria Alleyne, to three relay silver medals in the 800m freestyle, 400m freestyle, and 400m medley relay.
There was further joy in the girls 11-12, where Aliyah Greaves grabbed silver in the 50m backstroke, and Kaija Eastmond bronze in the 50m butterfly.
Among the boys, Mihael Sobers was able to acquire silver in the 200m backstroke for the 11-12 division. Victory Ashby also took silver in the 13-14 100m butterfly. Alex Sobers was a bronze medallist in the 18 & Over 100m freestyle.
The trip was a difficult one, with a tropical storm halting proceedings last Thursday and most of Friday. That meant that for many events, preliminaries were eliminated.
According to team officials from several territories, the quality of the catering was subpar, and some contingents were forced to spend thousands of dollars ensuring their athletes were properly fed.
The accommodation also left something to be desired, with some teams unable to find rooms in the hotels they had originally booked, and athletes having to be moved from leaky rooms.
More broadly, CCCAN has come under fire from multiple administrators on the issues of governance, integrity, and transparency. Calls have been made for ratification of the organisation’s constitution, and for fresh elections to be called in the coming months.
(TF)
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