Sprinters Richard Thompson and Kelly-Ann Baptiste were the top honourees at the T&T Olympic Committee's annual awards ceremony on Monday night at President's House, St Ann's, being named the Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year, respectively. The two were the obvious picks for the awards as they were a cut above the rest in 2008.
Thompson, representing Louisiana State Univerisity in the US, had a break out year, clinching the 60 metres and 100m titles at the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor championships, respectively. The 23-year-old then bagged two silver medals at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, clocking a personal best time of 9.89 seconds in the 100m final, before anchoring T&T's 4x100m men's relay team to a second place finish.
Baptiste, who is also an LSU athlete, mirrored her compatriot's achievements on NCAA circuit, capturing the Indoor and Outdoor sprint titles. She also retained her 100m crown at the Sagicor Open Championships in June. Garvyn Nero was the Olympic Committee's pick for "Junior Sportsman of the Year". The Fatima College and Phoenix Athletics Club standout was in dominant form at the Carifta Games in St Kitt's earlier this year, winning both the 800 and 1,500m events. He won gold in the same two events at the Sagicor Open Championships in June, making light work of his more experienced rivals.
The Junior Sportswoman of the Year award went to 19-year-old Jeneil Bellile, who was also a double gold medallist at this year's Carifta Games (400m, 400m hurdles). In addition to that, she set a national junior record in the 400m hurdles at the World Junior Championships in Poland in July on her way to winning silver in the final. T&T cricket team captain, Darren Ganga, who was not present at the function, picked up the Sports Personality of the Year award. Ganga led T&T to Stanford 20/20 glory, as well as the West Indies Regional limited overs title. Under Ganga's leadership, T&T also finished second in the Carib Cup.
Special athlete Dwight Yearwood was the recipient of the Alexander B Chapman award, while Marc Burns, Emmanuel Callender, Keston Bledman and Richard Thompson, the members of the T&T's silver medal-winning men's 4x100m relay team were honoured. St Augustine Girls High School student Natalie Fonrose copped the TTOC Art Competition prize. Among the dignataries attending the function were TTOC president Larry Romany, Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Gary Hunt, and the hosts of the event, President George Maxwell Richards and his wife, Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards.
