Two-time Olympian Sharntelle Mc Lean is urging sponsors to get on board with the 17th Annual Goodwill Swim Meet which is scheduled for August 12-14, at the Centre of Excellence. The meet is in jeopardy due to the lack of government funding and sponsorship and the Ministry of Sport and SPORTT have suggested it be cancelled. However, Mc Lean, who represented the country in Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008), is asking government and corporate T&T not to underestimate the importance of the meeting. Mc Lean started swimming competitively in 1997 and was selected on the national team for the Goodwill swim meet in Suriname. She also made the team the following year when it was first hosted in Trinidad.
"I won two gold medals in my first year."
Mc Lean was selected on every CARIFTA, CISC and CCCAN team up until the 2004 Olympics. She also made CAC, Pan Am, Commonwealth and Worlds. At 27, Mc Lean is now a swimmer/coach at Torpedoes Swim Club and represented T&T at the CCCAN Championships last month in Puerto Rico. She has made the ultimate cycle from a swimmer to an assistant coach on the 2011 Goodwill team. "The transition has not been a difficult one per se but more of an opportunity to give back to the sport that has made me into the person that I am today. I am able to share it with the future swimmers of the country." Some 110 athletes and officials from Barbados, Guyana and Suriname, plus dozens of supporters have already paid for flights and accommodation for the meet. If the event is cancelled, it would be the first time in 17 years this has happened. Mc Lean urged all athletes to remain focused even if this turned out to be the case.
