Two lifters instead of three as was previously announced, in William Langford and Shondell King, represented Guyana. The third lifter Julian McWatt was unable to participate after he encountered flight complications.

Langford, Guyana’s current 77kg champion placed 9th in his category with a combined snatch and clean-and-jerk total of 257.5kg. He was below his personal best weight of 267.5kg.

King equalled her personal best total of 157.5kg and placed 6th in the 69kg class.

Nurse who was the manager/coach while in the Dominican Republic said that he was disappointed at the performance of the team, noting that a few factors were against them.

He said a delay in having access to the facilities was one factor that hampered the team from doing their best.

He was hoping that the lifters would have improved on their past performances.

Nurse also noted that Guyana have a lot of catching up to do with the other countries if they are to become a force to be reckoned with in the future. Facilities, technology, supplements and sponsorship for athletes are the notable areas that have to be improved if Guyana want to be among the best in the world.

King said that she was expecting to do better at the games.

“It was not the performance I was looking for, I think it had to do with me not losing my bodyweight at the right time” she said while noting that the competition was not different from the rest she had participated in over the years.

“The experience wasn’t different, it was very challenging and I learnt a few things about the other countries’ training.”

More likely than not, she will be adapting these new training routines into her programme when she returns to the gym.

The 28-year-old, who has represented Guyana at the 2001 Guatemala Cup and the 2002 Commonwealth Games, feels that she is getting decreasing results from her training.

“I feel that I’m getting diminishing results from my training, it’s like you train all the time and in the end, you get less, I think it’s because of the lack of competition.”

She noted that the few competitions might be responsible for poor performances.

The mother of one is also hoping that she will be able to make the World Championships scheduled for November, but knows she has her work cut out for her.

Langford noted that he too was disappointed with his performance. He was hoping to have had a better placing at the games.

He noted that the training schedule had to be cut short because of the haphazard way in which things were done.