Guyana which was the last of the 42 countries to pre-register athletes for the Games, according to COPAN - the Games Organising Committee, achieved no other top-5 positions from its four other competitors in boxing, swimming and weightlifting. Its original pre-registered list of 21 athletes (14 men, 7 women) for five sports was eventually dropped to seven (4 men, 3 women) in 4 disciplines, with one athlete being a ‘no-show’.

Guyana’s medal winners, Marian Burnett (l) and Aliann Pompey (r) proudly wear their medals and expand the Golden Arrowhead at the PanAmerican Games athletes’ village in the Dominican Republic. Digipix courtesy of Neville Denny.

The two medals in Santo Domingo have now taken the country’s overall track and field tally at the Pan American Games to five, with the new additions coming 24 years after the last medal was draped around a Guyanese runner’s neck.

Since the quadrennial sports spectacle began in 1951, Guyana has won two medals in men’s events and three on the distaff side. A breakdown shows that the South American nation secured the five medals through four athletes in three distinct individual distances (200m, 400m and 800m) at three separate meets.

The first medal came in 1975 by way of Guyana’s first and only gold which was won in the Men’s 200m by James ‘Wren’ Gilkes - the then world leader - in an astounding 20.43s. A year later, the ‘flying Guyanese’ saw the chance of scoring his country’s first track medal at the Olympics evaporate when the Guyana government joined a deep field of nations boycotting the Montreal Summer Games in an asserting anti-apartheid protest. Then in 1979, Gilkes came back to add a second medal for Guyana a silver in the half lap.

At that same meet, June Marcia Griffith earned Guyana’s first medal in a Women’s event. Through a controversial decision, she was forced to settled for the silver after a 51.81s dead-heat photo-finish with the eventual gold medalist of the 400m.

Since that final year of the 70’s, it took Guyana almost a quarter of a century for teammates Burnett and Pompey to grow from infants to full women, before its flag was raised at the medal podium.

Pompey, the 2002 Commonwealth Games (CWG) 400m champion produced a come-from-behind burst to finish third in the one lap in 52.06s. Two days earlier, Burnett had initially earned bronze with a similar late overdrive run in the half-mile. However, six days later she was elevated to join Gilkes and Griffith as silver medalists, after a positive drug test docked the first place finisher.

Coincidentally, all four athletes were domiciled in the U.S. pursuing academic studies and specialised training when they won those medals. While Guyana’s tally is not as impressive as nationals would have wanted, it is still a source of pridet since many of the 42 nations have, now, recorded track medals or are yet to touch one. The Pan Am Games is viewed as second to the Olympics in its sheer organization and presentation magnitude, as well as level of performances.

Meanwhile, in the unique IAAF’s World Ranking system characterized by stringent competition and performance ‘yardsticks’, Pompey and Burnett are listed at #18 and #31 at their respective events. The 2003 rankings were updated on August 20th, and tallies the athletes through specially allocated points garnered from ‘head-on’ contests with other world class athletes on the lists.

Both Guyanese used the season to, first, rewrite the Indoor records for their country. In the Indoor 400m list Pompey, who had an early-season world-leading time, stood at #14 with a best of 52.17 (Feb. 28th, New York). Burnett was at #44 with a time of 2:04.57 (Feb. 9th, Florida). Her time was a season best for women on U.S. soil, at the time.

This year, Burnett has also lowered her personal best (PB) on two occasions; first on May 17th in Oregon (2:02.29) and then on July 7th in Zagreb, Croatia (2:01.71). Pompey has the national 400m record (51.34) from last year’s CWG in England, and would be looking to improve on that at this year’s World Championships in France.

For track and field, Guyana is in the enviable positions of competing in more international meets at the regional and global levels than practically every other nation. These include the Olympics, World Championships, World Cup of Athletics, PanAm Games, Commonwealth Games, and the Central American and Caribbean meets. Through the 13-nation South American Athletics Confederation (CONSULDATLE), it is involved in South American meets, as well, and several of its past and current trackstars, including the PanAm medalists, are in the top-10 in their respective events.

For the 2003 Indoor season, Pompey is ranked #2 on the 400m list with her 51.48s performance on June 15th in Varsovia. She is edged by Brazilian Geisha Aparecida Muniz Coutinho’s 51.44s. Burnett is also at #2 in the 800m from her Zagreb performance, which fits her one position below the 2:00.98 recorded by Brazil’s 2003 PanAm bronze medalist Christiane Ritz dos Santos.

In the All-Time Outdoor ranking for CONSULDALTE countries, Pompey is at #4 following her 2002 CWG run, while Griffith is listed at #5 (51.37s, May,1979 in North Carolina) and Burnett completes the 400m top-10 list in that position, while her preferred event (800m) has her at #9. Pompey returns in the All-Time Indoor category at #2, with Griffith following at #3 (52.88s at the same venue of her outdoor PB). The latter, a stalwart sprinter of the 70’s who is a Senior Medical Services Administrator in California, also has a #6 position in the long jump at 6.25m (Jan., 1975 in Long Beach). Burnett has two more top-10 classifications, being at #4 at both the permanent Indoor 800m list, as well as the permanent Indoor mile list with the latter ranking scoring her 5:02.01 (Jan.,2001 in Coxe Cage). Gilkes’ 10.19s done in Ingelheim, Sept.12, 1978 puts him at #10 on CONSULDATLE All-Time Outdoor 100m list. His 20.14s in the same year (1978) for the half lap is #3 behind leader Brazilian Claudinei Quirinode Silva’s 19.89s that was done 21 years later.

Gilkes whose 51st birthday comes up mid next month, is regarded as Guyana’s best-ever track and field performer, and is among the top-30 male sprinters over the past 100 years. He along with Burnett and Pompey hold national records in various events. Gilkes for Men’s Indoor 100m, 200m and Outdoor 100m, 200m and 4x100m. Pompey holds Outdoor 200m and 400m, as well as Indoor 400m, 500m and 600m. Burnett has Outdoor 800m, and Indoor 800m, mile, 3000m and 5000m.