BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOR ST. KITTS AND NEVIS the first day of Olympics came in the form of a major shock as news spread that our only female athlete – a promising contender – had been withdrawn from the Olympic team.
The news came in the form of her Facebook posting from the athlete herself and for the entire day there was so much speculation as to what actually happened.
Today, however, there has been an official release from the St. Kitts Nevis Olympic Association which reads as follows:
“The St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC) has withdrawn sprint athlete, Tameka Williams, from its 2012 Olympic Team, effective, Saturday 28th July. She has left the Olympic Village for St. Kitts and Nevis.
In discussion with team management, Ms. Williams volunteered information to the effect that she has been using a substance which the SKNOC considers to fall outside the internationally accepted Medical Code.
All the necessary bodies have been duly notified. This matter will be concluded pending further investigations.”
Guess we will hear a lot more on this story. We will bring you developments as they happen.
Surprises...
Already there have been upsets and surprises taking place at the Olympics:
Michael Phelps, the USA swimmer who had an outstanding record at former Olympic meets just barely managed to get into the 400m finals.
He needs only 3 more medals to become the most decorated Olympic medal holder of all times. Surprisingly he came 4th in the 400m and failed to get his first medal. Speculation abounds as to whether he can come up to mark and some are wondering whether his failure is due to his lack of practice or his marijuana smoking which caused an uproar when he was seen doing that in public.
Firsts...
This is the first Summer Olympics in the age of Twitter. Well, “Voula Papachristou, a Greek triple jumper, was expelled from her team after tweeting tasteless and racist comments. Her comments were offensive, no matter what the medium” (USA Today)
This is also the first Olympic games in which women are included in teams from all countries
The first gold medal of the 2012 Olympics was won by China by Yi Siling who competed in women’s air rifle meet.
Here is the medal count on the first day – first ten.
G S B Total
China
5 1 2 8
United States
2 2 2 6
Italy
2 2 1 5
Brazil
1 1 1 3
Korea
1 1 1 3
Australia
1 - - --1
Kazakhstan
1 - - 1
Russia
1 - - 1
Japan
- 2 1 3
Colombia
- 1 - 1
DID YOU KNOW that
• That this year’s Summer Olympic Cauldron has 204 moving pieces to represent the coming together of 204 competing countries?
• The first black athlete to compete at the Olympics was Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera, competing for France in 1900?
• T he FIRST team sport added to the Olympics was Football in 1900.
More in tomorrow’s blog ... See full list of Caribbean athletes and the sports in which they are engaged in another post. It can act as a guide to which sports to follow and support.
