Overwhelming, but “really nice”.
This is how Barbados’ female 400-metre record holder, and 2022 Commonwealth Games 400-metre champion and World Athletics bronze medallist at the distance has described her feelings about how she and other elite athletes were celebrated yesterday on her return home.
Sada Williams told the Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation in a short telephone conversation this morning, “It felt a little overwhelming and I wasn’t really expecting all of that, but it was really nice, it was really nice…I don’t really like big crowds and a lot of attention, so it was a lot for me.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Williams and fellow Barbadian track star Jonathan Jones were the first to walked off a Jet Blue flight from New York to the airport tarmac to meet cyclist Amber Joseph, another of the island’s sporting heroes.
Joseph, who returned home last week was a part of the welcoming party led by Minister of Youth, Sports and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith that included officials of the National Sports Council and the Barbados Olympic Association.
Inside the airport, the trio shared their excitement with one another and chatted with Minister Griffith; Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports, Yolande Howard; Director of Sport at the National Sports Council, Neil Murrell; and President of the Barbados Olympic Association, Sandra Osborne before participating in a motorcade from the airport to the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium in Wildey via Bridgetown.
Williams, who lives and trains in Jamaica said she gets the opportunity to come home to Barbados only two times a year, and was looking forward to enjoying herself with family and friends on this trip.
Joseph, mostly based in Switzerland, raced to a gold medal finish in the women’s scratch race at the Pan American Elite Track Cycling Championships last month, and Jones, who attends university in the United States captured bronze in the men’s 400 metres at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and broke a 45-year Barbados record in the 800 metres this season.
The elite athletes will be hosted at Ilaro Court in the evening tomorrow, Friday, September, 16 at a reception in their honour. (SNR)
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