Bridgetown.
The founder of the CARIFTA Games, Barbadian Austin Sealy was honoured during the Opening Ceremony of the 42nd edition of the Games at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau, Bahamas.
Prime Minister of the Bahamas Perry Christie, lauded Sealy for “creating a competition which became a model” across the world.
Christie stated that CARIFTA was meant to enhance the relations among English-speaking countries of the region after the dissolution of the West Indies Federation, and has become the breeding ground for most of the region’s world class athletes like multiple Olympic champion Usain Bolt, world and Olympic champion Yohan Blake and javelin Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago.
Pointing to the hundreds of children standing on the field for the parade of nations, Christie said to truly understand what spectators were seeing, was to note that Walcott went from being the gold medallist at CARIFTA last year to the gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Sealy was presented with a special edition of the Austin Sealy Award. He thanked the people of the Bahamas in his brief remarks.
