A.W. SangsterTHE ANNUAL Carreras Sports Foundation Awards ceremony held on Thursday evening the 18th of January was a glitzy affair and the nation witnessed the 40th anniversary celebrations live on television.
There were some significant features of the ceremony:
Live television coverage was a new innovation.
For the first time there was a joint award made, to Deon Hemmings and Lorraine Graham.
Participants of the first awards ceremony of 1961 participated in the function. Bunny Grant spoke through a video clip, and Dr. Barbara Jones, runner-up in 1961 and the guest speaker, spoke of the challenge of discipline and goal setting to life as a whole and of the need to be physically fit and mentally alert.
Prize money was significantly increased for the winners and runners-up. Carreras Sports Foundation Chairman Dudley Hendricks also reported on the scholarship support given to the young footballers through the Reggae Boyz scholarships and support for GC Foster athletes.
There was an increase in the number of awards in the five major categories.
Readers will be interested in an analysis of the sportsman and sportswoman award over the years. Mr. Patrick Smith of the Carreras Group Office had previously indicated that Carreras would be sponsoring a 40th anniversary publication to mark this important national milestone.
In the case of the women the award has been dominated by athletics followed far behind by table tennis, and swimming. See Table 1. In fact over the last 24 years all the winners have been track athletes.
In the case of the men, while athletics tops the list, cricket and boxing are close behind followed by cycling and swimming. (See Table 2)
It is also of interest to note that athletes who have won multiple awards have tended to swing the awards in their category. In the case of the men, leading multiple winners have been Michael McCallum (7), followed by Donald Quarrie (6). In the case of the women Merlene Ottey has won the trophy an incredible 13 times and this over a period of 16-year. (See Table 3).
A number of issues were raised in the media on the justice of the selection process. In particular the case of Veronica Campbell, the brilliant young athlete, was raised as to why she was not nominated among the top ten. A number of considerations apply. She was not in a final at the Olympics as the athletes who were nominated were, and junior events do not rank as high as senior events in the Foundation's selection process. She was however recognised with an individual Special Award and she also shared in several Special Awards at the team level.
The case of Grantel Gibbs who was recently awarded the World Chess Federation FIDE Chess Master Ranking was also raised. While the achievement is commendable and is the first for a Jamaican, chess does not currently classify as a 'sport' by international definitions and is recognised as a 'mind game'.
The two and a half hour ceremony with the specific presentation part of the programme initially planned for one hour on TV had one or two minor glitches, but certainly broke new ground and was well received. Congratulations are in order for Enez Whittaker and her team who co-ordinated the arrangements.
A.W. Sangster is former President of the University of Technology.
