PORT OF SPAIN, Sprinters Jereem “The Dream” Richards and Michelle-Lee Ahye were named the men’s and women’s athlete-of-the-year, respectively, at the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA) annual awards on Saturday.
The United States-based pair did not attend the awards held at the Radisson Hotel, and their mothers, Yvette Wilson and Raquel Ahye collected on their behalf.
NAAA president George Commissiong was full of praise for all the athletes that participated in meets throughout the year, and he said he was also looking forward to this year’s events.
“Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, we were able to undertake most of the tasks required to have a somewhat normal season,” he said. “As the year progressed, we were able to host several development meets and Carifta trials.
“We restructured the relay festival, and at the international level, we can boast that we were able to field teams for all major meets for which we were eligible.”
He added: “Our athletes were not the only members of the fraternity that performed impressively. Our support personnel also got full attention … three of the top 11 technical officiating positions at the 2022 Carifta Games in Jamaica.
“For 2023, we anticipate some challenges as it will be a busy year in international relations, and the athletes are expected to return high standards if they are to succeed in international conditions.”
Richards quickly captured the men’s award for the third year in a row after he won the first gold medal for Trinidad & Tobago at the World Indoor Championships in Beograd, Serbia, where he clocked 45 seconds flat to take the 400 meters, breaking the national record held of Deon Lendore, who died a traffic collision last year.
Richards followed up with a personal best time of 19.80 secs to win the 200 meters gold medal at the Commonwealth Games last July-August in Birmingham, England, erasing one hundredth-of-a-second off the previous mark held by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia.
Last month, Richards was named the T&T Olympic Committee’s Sportsman of the Year and the Sports Personality of the Year.
Aye, the first woman to win a gold medal for T&T at a Commonwealth Games four years ago in Gold Coast, Australia, gained her award after a season in which she reached the semi-finals of the 100 meters in Birmingham and the World Athletics Championships last July in Eugene, Oregon, USA.
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