Turks & Caicos Making a Statement at 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, August 4, 2022 – The Commonwealth Games are nearly over  and the Turks and Caicos islands have been represented well in this staging. Arleigha Hall and Courtney Missick proudly carried the country’s flag on opening night to the delight of the small but mighty TCI contingent in the crowd.

Swimming and other Aquatic sports got underway last Friday and for the first time the Islands had swimmers in the Games thanks to Rohan Shearer and Arleigha Hall.

Rohan who won the TCIs first Carifta medal competed in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle in which he topped his heat and made a personal best, the 50m backstroke and the 100m backstroke.

The TCIs top female swimmer Arleigha Hall contested  the 50m freestyle; 50m butterfly, in which she swam a personal best, and the 50m backstroke.

Though they did not advance to the quarter finals in their events TCI swim federation president Dan Redmond was extremely proud of the performances put in.

“We’ve still got some way to go before we start making finals, but please bear in mind that Rohan is only 15! He’ll be around in 2026.” Redmond said.

“And please also consider, we don’t have a swimming pool in the Turks and Caicos Islands to train in. Arleigha’s performances are incredible given the current faculties available to her.”

In Swim events unlike track events it doesn’t matter who wins the heat but who swims the fastest time, so while Rohan placed first and Arleigha  placed second in one of their heats each their times were not fast enough to advance. Redmond has hope for the future of the sport.

“With the current growth of swimming I’m sure that we’ll see swimmers representing the TCI in 2026 Games and beyond.” He said.

Athletics was where the bulk of the Turks and Caicos’s delegation competed. The country was represented by Rebecca Bernardin in the women’s 800m; Yanique Haye-Smith in the women’s 400m hurdles; Angelo Garland and Ken Reyes in the Men’s 400m; and Ifeanyichukwu Otuonye in the men’s long jump. Ifeanyi qualified for the finals of his event and landed in the eighth spot at the end.  For Ifeanyi, it was a season’s best 7.80m.

Still to come Rebecca Bernardin is up on Friday at 6:15am in the women’s 1500 metre; Courtney Missick; Ken Reyes and Wilkenson Fenelon a part of the team that will contest the Men’s  4x400m relay on Friday at 6:37 am and the 4x100m relay on Saturday at 7:45 am Road cycling is also up on Sunday and Sean Rodgers & Vaughn Williams will contest the  Men’s Road Race at 7:30am

The Commonwealth Games will end on August 8th.