CAS­TRIES, St Lu­cia – Ath­letes from the Or­gan­i­sa­tion of East­ern Caribbean States (OECS) who com­pet­ed at the re­cent­ly con­clud­ed Paris Olympics have come in for high praise from the OECS Com­mis­sion.

In a press re­lease is­sued on Tues­day, the Com­mis­sion con­grat­u­lat­ed par­tic­i­pants and medal­lists from its Mem­ber States for “bring­ing im­mense pride to the re­gion”.

Among the stand­out per­form­ers from the OECS were St Lu­cia’s Julien Al­fred who grabbed a gold medal in the women’s 100 me­tres and sil­ver in the 200 me­tres, Thea La­Fond of Do­mini­ca who won gold in the women’s triple jump, and Grena­da’s duo of An­der­son Pe­ters who copped bronze in the men’s javelin and Lin­don Vic­tor, who earned bronze in the men’s de­cathlon.

The Com­mis­sion al­so high­light­ed the ef­forts of Shafi­qua Mal­oney from St Vin­cent and the Grenadines, who placed fourth in the women’s 800 me­tres.

It al­so laud­ed ath­letes from Mar­tinique and Guade­loupe who rep­re­sent­ed France at the Olympics.

“The OECS Com­mis­sion ex­tends heart­felt con­grat­u­la­tions to all par­tic­i­pants and medal­lists from OECS Mem­ber States for their re­mark­able par­tic­i­pa­tion in the re­cent­ly con­clud­ed Olympic Games. Your ded­i­ca­tion and com­mit­ment have brought im­mense pride to our re­gion, show­cas­ing the ex­tra­or­di­nary tal­ent and re­silience of OECS ath­letes on the glob­al stage,” the state­ment read.

“The Com­mis­sion al­so ac­knowl­edges the in­valu­able sup­port of Mem­ber States, Na­tion­al Olympic Com­mit­tees, coach­es, teach­ers, men­tors, fam­i­lies, and sup­port staff who have played a cru­cial role in prepar­ing the re­gion’s ath­letes for this pres­ti­gious event.

“Your un­wa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion has been in­stru­men­tal in their suc­cess. We al­so ex­press our grat­i­tude to the host na­tion and the In­ter­na­tion­al Olympic Com­mit­tee for or­gan­is­ing a suc­cess­ful and safe event, pro­vid­ing ath­letes with the op­por­tu­ni­ty to shine,” it fur­ther added.

The Com­mis­sion main­tained that it re­mained com­mit­ted to pro­mot­ing sports as an en­abler of sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment and fos­ter­ing sup­port for ath­letes as they pur­sue their dreams.

CMC