CARIFTA Aquatics Championships 2024: No Medals, Personal Bests, Update on that Olympic-sized pool

Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, April 7, 2024 – As the Turks and Caicos’ swimmers return home from the CARIFTA  Aquatics Championships some parents and well-wishers are again wondering when the promised Olympic size pool will be provided, the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports and Social Services reassures that the process is ongoing and news should come in April.

“For the 2023-24 fiscal year, $3.7 million was budgeted to design and build an Aquatic Centre on Providenciales, which is a project expected to span 3 years,” Amin McCartney, Deputy Permanent Secretary told us.

Jayden Davis

The country came home without any medals this year but what they did bag were a lot of personal bests, with times slashed by wide margins according to the TCI Swim Federation.

In the 13-14 boys category, Jayden Davis made the finals of the 50m butterfly and 100m Butterfly with a time of 1:01.84, Thais Burgess with 3:27.98, earned a 9th place finish just outside of finals of the 200m Breaststroke .  Isaac Farley, a newcomer to CARIFTA Aquatics earned 10th place in the boys 11-12 with 3:51.05.

Even those who didn’t hit the finals showed promise.

“Throughout the competition, athletes achieved significant personal bests, underscoring their commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.  Jeffrey Joseph 13-14 shaved off 8.16 seconds off his entry time.  Rishith Gururaja shaved off 7.00 seconds. Gabrielle Martin lessened her time by 5.11 seconds.  Anaiah Alleyne reduced her time by 2.2 seconds, Lenika Hamilton reduced her time by 1.6 seconds and Hayley Williams took 0.42 off her time.”

For many of the athletes, competition day is when they finally get an opportunity to use the Olympic sized pools that are standard in Swim meets and with them consistently smashing personal bests by such wide margins, some residents are questioning whether the right practice arena wouldn’t help them nurture their talent much more.

Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, Rachel Taylor, had been so impressed with the performance of the young athletes during previous competitions that she had promised to install for them an Olympic sized swimming pool.  True to form the government had purchased the land on which the new sports center, complete with that pool is to be built and the $3.7 million allocation was set aside to fund the project in 2023.

Mcartney explained that because of the size and the specialized nature of the project the government decided to retain a consultant to execute the proper scoping, design, detailed cost and invitation to tender.  Because of oversight in the original plan, the funding for the project has been re-allocated with $200,000 now on the table to find a consultant.

“A preferred bidder has been identified through the public procurement process and we anticipate the endorsement of the contract this month,” the DPS told us.

The Turks and Caicos Islands Swim Federation maintains it is still immensely proud of the athletes achievements.