Track and field athlete Jereem “The Dream” Richards and cyclist Teniel Campbell were named the 2022 First Citizens Sports Foundation ‘Sportsman of the Year’ and ‘Sportswoman of the Year’ award recipients at the 60th annual awards ceremony themed Passing the Baton which was held at MovieTowne, Port-of-Spain, on Sunday.
The win by the duo followed up their similar triumphs at the 2022 T&T Olympic Committee (T&TOC) awards function held last December. It was also the second First Citizens award for the 28-year-old Richards to add to his win in 2018, and the third for Campbell, who also copped the top award in 2019, and 2020.
During his 2022 season, Richards won T&T’s first-ever gold medal at the World Athletics Indoor Championships when he powered to victory in the men’s 400m final in 45.00 seconds at the Stark Arena in Beorad, Belgrade Serbia, ahead of USA’s Trevor Bassitt (45.05), with Sweden’s Carl Bengstrom (45.33) in third place in March.
In winning the 400m title in 45.00 seconds, Richards broke the national indoor record of 45.03 seconds, which was held by the late Deon Lendore, who died tragically in a car accident in January last year.
He then clocked a personal best 19.83 seconds in winning the National 200m title in June before he lowered that mark and set a new meet record on his way to defending his men’s 200m title at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games in England, in July.
A Point Fortin native, Richards, won the event in 19.80, erasing the previous Commonwealth Games record of 19.97, held by Frankie Fredericks of Namibia since 1994 while at the World Track and Field Championship in Portland, Oregon, he was sixth in the final in 20.08.
Richards also combined with Dwight St Hillaire, Asa Guevara, and Machel Cedenio to capture the 4x400m men’s relay gold medal in Birmingham.
The 25-year-old Campbell of Hardbargain, Village, Williamsville, also had a productive 2022, winning the Points Race title, and earning silver in the Individual Pursuit, and the bronze in the Elimination Race at the Elite Pan American Track Cycling Championships in Lima, Peru.
Campbell, the daughter of former top national netballer Euphemia Huggins also placed sixth at the Birmingham, England-held Commonwealth Games in the Road Race event in a bunch finish, and seventh in the Time Trial.
At home, she won double gold at the National Championships, in the Road Race and Time Trial events, as well as gold in the Time Trial at the Elite Caribbean Road Championships in the Dominican Republic before suffering a fall in the women’s Road Race.
And as a member of TeamBikeExchange-Jayco Campbell was a 10th-placed finisher in the 10th and final stage of the 2022 Giro d’Italia Donne, the most prestigious stage race in women’s road cycling for 83rd spot overall.
Among the juniors, national swimmer, Nikoli Blackman completed another hat-trick of wins by taking home the “Junior Sportsman” award, a feat he also achieved at the T&TOC awards, while cyclist Phobe Sandy was voted as the “Junior Sportswoman”, an award she also collected last December as well.
Elaborating on the theme, the Chairman of the First Citizens Sports Foundation, Dr Terry Ali said, “The past has laid the foundation stones for the future of sporting achievements and has set the stage for many of our athletes to mount the podium. We have moved forward with significant contributions from the Ministry of Sport, the T&TOC, The University of the West Indies (UWI), the University of T&T (UTT), the various sporting associations, clubs, and the many sponsors who have taken an interest in the development of the sport. What remains now is succession planning, to ensure continuous growth and development”
He added, “The foundation will therefore celebrate the collective contribution of its various partners, including the foresight of the awards’ founders, the West Indian Tobacco Company Limited, from which First Citizens overtook responsibility for the awards in 2004.
“The First Citizens Sports Foundation looks forward to continuing to recognize and promote a culture of excellence in sports at all levels of society, by advocating for the needs of athletes, coaches, and sports administrators, providing training opportunities in areas such as sports administration efficiency, sports psychology, media relations, and safeguarding awareness, offering support for sporting events and sporting clubs and making financial contributions to the development of our national athletes,” stated Dr Ali.
The First Citizens Sports Foundation also inducted nine former national athletes/administrators and teams into the Hall of Fame inclusive of the 1987 national netball team which was joint-second placed finishers at the 1987 Netball World Cup with Australia, Andrew Churchill Aleong (cricket), Lionel D’Arceuil (table tennis), Winston Mulligan (table tennis), Stacey-Ann Siu Butt (hockey), Mushtaque Mohammed (volleyball administrator), Ashley Ian Harris (hockey coach), Marcus Minshall (rugby and posthumously, Ian Nivet (cycling), and Phillip Ian Dore (athletics trainer/physiotherapy).