Ryan Brathwaite took the top two awards last Friday night at the Barbados Olympic Association’s (BOA) 2012 Christmas Dinner and Awards at Hilton Barbados.
Brathwaite, who was fifth in the men’s 110 metres hurdles final at the London Olympics, won the President’s Award which is decided on the discretion of BOA president Steve Stoute, and he was also named the Digicel 4G Athlete Of The Year.
He would have received the nod over tennis player Darian King whose career ranking reached a high of 482 this year and cyclist Darren Matthews who had a string of victories at home and overseas.
King and Matthews were among four receiving Special Awards. The others were triathlete Jason Wilson, who is training in Toronto and badminton’s Kelvin Martin who officiated at the Olympic Games.
Patron Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave, Minister of Education Ronald Jones, featured speaker Michael Romany, president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee and members from across the sporting fraternity were in attendance at the ceremony which also marked the 50th anniversary celebrations of the BOA.
Two surfers copped the major junior awards.
Chelsea Tuach and Dane Mackie, who both enjoyed outstanding seasons locally and internationally, were named the Junior Female and Male Athlete, respectively.
Other juniors in the spotlight were Yu Tien Poon, Jeren Clarke and Amanda Haywood.
Poon won a bronze medal this year at the CARIFTA Under-20 Chess Championships and his FIDE rating puts him as the top Under-14 and Under-16 in the English-speaking Caribbean and third highest Under-18 and Under-20 in the world.
Clarke is captain of the Barbados junior rugby team and also plays with the seniors, while 12-year-old Haywood won a gold medal at the Caribbean Junior Squash Championships in the Under-13 division, playing unbeaten.
The National Primary Schools’ Athletics Championships received the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Trophy For Sport And Sustainability, while BOA vice-president Ralph Johnson copped the Special Recognition Award for his contribution to sport development and sport management.
Certificates were also awarded to 13 graduates of the Advanced Sport Management course. (SAT)
