Nyota Peters - A tale of talent triumphing over adversity
Stabroek News
January 9, 2003
In the town of Linden which is known for producing so many national sportsmen over the years the name Nyota Peters is instantly recognizable and revered by all sports enthusiasts.
For over fifteen years Nyota has been a legend in track and field in the Upper Demerara Region.
Born on the 4th April 1979 to Cedro and Pansy Peters, Nyota is the youngest of a family of three boys and three girls. She has always received the full support of her family in her athletic endeavours, especially her father, who unfortunately died when she was fourteen years old.
Peters first came to athletic prominence at the tender age of seven.
Representing Upper Demerara at the National Schools Athletic Championships, she was named champion girl in the Under-9 category. This was the first in a long line of similar accomplishments at these championships, as she was adjudged champion girl on no less than 10 other occasions over the years.
This, surely, is an achievement worthy of the record books.
As a junior athlete attending Mackenzie Primary and Secondary schools in Linden, Nyota was fortunate to come intocontact with two teachers who were both very involved in the organizing of school athletics in Linden at the time.
Mayfield Taylor-Trim and the late Bertram Hamilton recognized her athletic potential and took an interest, becoming not only her coaches, but her personal mentors as well. Whenever Nyota had to compete in Georgetown, they would both accompany her, many times having to take care of all the expenses for the trips themselves. With the recent passing of Mr. Hamilton, Mrs. Taylor-Trim is left to carry on the good work on her own.
From 1993-1998, Nyota represented Guyana with distinction at the Inter- Guiana Games against Surinam and French Guiana.
Besides winning her specialty events of high jump, long jump, triple jump and 400 metres, she was also an outstanding member of the girls volleyball and basketball teams at these games.
As expected, Nyota regularly represented Guyana at the Junior Carifta Games from 1994-1998 winning four medals over the years. Her most outstanding year was 1995, when, in the Under-17 category, she won gold in the high jump and bronze in the long jump.
Peters also represented Guyana at the Olympic Youth Camp held during the 1996 Centennial Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
At this camp she met young athletes like herself from most of the countries of the world.
Although they did not compete against each other, they enjoyed cultural exchanges and forged lasting friendships.
In 1999, Nyota took a short time off from her athletic career to have a baby, but before the end of the year she was already representing Guyana at basketball again.
She is now the proud mother of three-year-old son Shomari Peters.
In 2001, Nyota successfully participated in an IAAF/Olympic Solidarity, Level One, Track and Field coaching course, held in Guyana under the auspices of the Guyana Olympic Association.
The course instructors were Anthony Jones from Barbados and Daniel St.Hilaire from Canada. Mr. St. Hilaire was so impressed by Nyota’s performance in the demonstration phase of the course that he recommended that she give up her individual events and concentrate on the heptathlon.
This event is a combination of the hurdles, high jump, shot putt, 200meters, long jump, javelin and 800 meters events run over a two day period, with points being awarded for each event.
With a view of Nyota competing in this event in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England, the Amateur Athletic Association of Guyana, arranged for her to receive training in Brazil.
Nyota spent three months at the Olympic training centre in Manaus, Brazil, but, due to the language barrier and other unforeseen problems, most of her time was spent with an 800m coach undergoing intense endurance training.
When she returned in May 2002 she represented Guyana at the Whitsuntide Games in Grenada. Nyota was outstanding winning silver medals in the hurdles and long jump and bronze medals in the javelin and high jump. However, it was very disappointing to learn that, after all the training, there were not enough funds available to send her to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Ever since Guyana gained Independence in 1996 the country’s entire sporting fraternity has appealed to the powers that be, to provide the sportsmen and women of Guyana with sports facilities equal to those in other Caribbean countries. Sadly, up to the present time, this remains an unattainable dream.
We are now told by the Guyana Cricket Board that even our world famous GCC ground Bourda, is not up to international standards. The footballers need a stadium, the cyclists need a banked track and the swimmers need an Olympic size swimming pool. These are all reasonable requests, but for a poor country like Guyana, they are a tall order to fill.
However when Peters travelled to Georgetown last August, in search of facilities to assist her in training for the heptathlon in the upcoming CAC Games, she was not asking for any of these grand facilities.
Her wish list was far more basic, it contained the following items.
1 Ten hurdles, which can be made locally, of wood. Until 1970, both Queen College and St. Stanislaus College had their own sets of hurdles.
2 Foam mats used for competitors to land on in the High Jump.
3 A functioning Long Jump pit. Basically, a hole filled with sand, with enough space for a run-off and a take-off board.
Nyota might as well have been asking for a stadium, because none of this basic track and field equipment and facilities were available in Guyana.
To a lesser athlete this situation might have been discouraging, but to Nyota Peters it was just another obstacle for her to overcome on her rocky road to athletic excellence. She prepared as best she could to participate in her first ever Heptathlon in El Salvador. This was not going to be just a sightseeing tour to a foreign land, because Nyota was determined to try her utmost to somehow win a medal.
When Nyota Peters took the starting line to do battle with competitors from Mexico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, Chef de Mission, Garfield Wiltshire and boxer, Lennox Allen, were the only two Guyanese supporters in the stands, as most of the Guyanese contingent had already left for home.
As expected the first day’s events were grueling. In just a few hours Nyota gained the following results - hurdles 5th (15: 94 Secs), high jump, 2nd (1:63 Metres), Shot Putt 5th (8:54 Metres) and 200 metres 4th (26:15 Secs).
At this stage she found herself in 4th position overall, 194 points behind the competitor from El Salvador, in 3rd place. At this point, the Guyanese athlete did not even have a book of rules governing the event to help her plan her strategy for the events of the next day.
In the Long Jump, the first event of day two, Nyota placed 3rd (5.37 Metres) but in the next event, the Javelin (30:65 Metres), she placed last. As she took the starting line for her first international 800 metres, the moment of truth was at hand for Nyota Peters. Since she was a child she had always given everything she had in every race she had ever run. This 800 metres race would be no different.
Nyota Peters ran the race of her young life. Placing 2nd, just 4 seconds (2:22.20 Secs) behind the winner, for a total of 4,657 points. This performance was good enough to win her the bronze medal by 96 points. Once again a Guyanese athlete had displayed the remarkable talent to triumph over adversity.
The future athletic career of Nyota Peters hangs in the balance. The Canadian Olympic Coach, Daniel St. Hilaire, has offered to organize a comprehensive training program for her at the Canadian High Level Olympic Training Facility in Quebec, Canada. Whether Nyota will benefit from this golden opportunity will depend once more, on the level of sponsorship available to the Amateur Athletic Association of Guyana.
Nyota Peters has done her part on the track,let us be sure to do ours.
