A gold, a silver, and two bronze were the precious metals that Trinidad & Tobago closed off the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games in Chile. T&T finished tied in 19th spot with El Salvador in the rankings.
The four medals were won in three sporting disciplines among the 100-member contingent which included 64 athletes and 36 officials.
Cyclist Nicholas Paul pedalled away with two of those medals at the Velodrome in Penalolen. He returned as the defending champion in the men’s sprint event and sped sway to reclaim T&T’s lone gold medal.
The world record holder in the 200-metre flying start then copped silver the following day in the men’s keirin event on the cycling track.
This after sharing the responsibility of carrying the flag with boxer Tianna Guy at the Santiago 2023 festive opening ceremony.
“It was a great honour to be the flag bearer at the opening ceremony, representing my country,” Paul said on leading the T&T contingent at the parade of 41 nations of the Americas.
Paul’s medals were the second and third for T&T, though.
Days before, the 3x3 basketball team of twin brothers Ahkeel and Ahkeem Boyd, Moriba De Freitas scored T&T’s first medal, bagging the first bronze at the 19th edition of the Games.
The quartet made history by winning the first Pan Am medal in any form of basketball for this country, beating South American neighbour Venezuela, 21-20 in a thrilling third-place match on the court at the Spanish Stadium of the Las Condes.
T&T’s fourth and final medal came on the track at Chile’s National Stadium courtesy of Michelle-Lee Ahye. The 31-year-old sprinter won the bronze medal in the women’s 100m dash.
At the previous Games, Lima 2019 in Peru, T&T won 11 medals—one gold, seven silver, and three bronze.
The USA ranked first on the standings with 286 medals—124 gold, 75 silver, and 87 bronze, In second is Brazil with 205 (66 gold, 73 silver, 66 bronze) followed by Mexico with 52 gold, 38 silver, and 52 bronze to total 164 medals.
