The Barbados Olympic Association Inc. held an Awards Ceremony last Tuesday night under the patronage of His Excellency Sir Elliott Belgrave, Governor General Of Barbados at the Hilton Barbados Resort. The black-tie affair, sponsored by telecommunications giant, Flow, celebrated a 2-year period, which saw the country competing in five major games as far away as Nanjing, China and Samoa in the South Pacific. Over 300 competitors were involved with some medal winning performances.
The BOA also took the opportunity to recognize the winners of Barbados’ two Olympic medals, Jim Wedderburn and Ambassador Obadele Thompson. Wedderburn won a bronze medal 55 years ago, as part of a West Indies 4x400m relay team while Thompson won his bronze medal 15 years ago in Sydney Australia at the 2000 Olympics in the 100m sprint. These two gentlemen were honoured and presented an award by Sir Elliott.
Sir Elliott also presented awards to Erskine Simmons and Kenmore Bynoe, who received the IOC Trophy for 2013 and 2014 respectively. The IOC Trophy or the Pierre Coubertin Trophy is bestowed on an individual who had contributed towards Olympism through an art form and who had worked assiduously to promote the Olympic movement, not only in their country but internationally.
The toasts of the night were Senior Athletes of the Year Akela Jones and Ramon Gittens. Jones was presented awards for her bronze medal performance in the Pan Am Games, an Individual Excellence Award along with being named Senior Female Athlete of the Year while Gittens received awards for his silver medal performance at the Pan Am Games and representing Barbados at the 2012 Olympics. Apart from being named Senior Male Athlete of the Year, Gittens also walked away with the President’s Award.
View all the award winners by clicking on link to our gallery below.
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