Tianna Springer’s Olympics quest must start now
The advertisements are everywhere on television and billboards from Athens to Paris.
Yes, it’s less than six months before the Paris Olympics, where fame and fortunes await the best performers at the world’s premier sports extravaganza.
But Guyana’s best chance at glory might be realized at the 2028 edition in Los Angeles instead. It’s when the country’s best young talent for the event would be better equipped to add to our sole medal won almost 44 years ago.
Tianna Springer is only 16 years old, but has burst on the scene with such unprecedented success in athletics, she is set to follow-up on boxer Michael’s solitary bronze attained in 1980 Moscow Games.
She’s currently junior champion at 400 meters in the Caribbean, Commonwealth and South America and if a world competition at her age was possible, she be among the best, given her commitment to success.
Those feats make her the most heralded ever 15-year-old Guyanese athlete male or female at the time last year, when she captured gold at the Carifta Under-17, Commonwealth U-18 and South American U-20 championships.
In clocking a personal best 53.55 seconds in winning the Commonwealth Youth title, she capped a brilliant year in 2023 of unbeaten performances in her pet event.
In began when Springer outgunned all-comers at the Carifta Games when she toppled Region’s best including the everpowerful Jamaicans at Easter.
Since then it has been an unparalled run of success for the Chase Academy student who swept all before her whenever she hit the track. It included a three-title haul at the Inter Guiana Games competing on grass, before bagging four Under-18 golds including three records from 100m to 800m at the National Schools Championships.
But it was at the Commonwealth event in Trinidad and Tobago in September that was the icing on the cake for the Plaisance born sprinter.
The then 15-year-old bested the champions from Africa, the United Kingdom, Canada and including the strong Jamaicans and the Caribbean in a field of rivals three years older.
It produced her PB in a remarkable display in which Springer also powered Guyana to gold in the mixed relay event as well.
When it is taken into consideration that the next beat world junior time outside of the banned Christine Mboma’s remarkable 48.56s is 50.01s, it should raise hopes that the Guyanese sensation is on track for stardom at the higher senior level.
But it requires more than mere the support of coaches and family to get her there. A carefully charted course in the prodigy’s development to the senior ranks is required with special input from the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) and the Guyana Olympics Association (GOA)
It is one of the tragedies of Guyana’s sport that many past talented performers especially in athletics, have not been allowed to successfully transition to the senior ranks mainly due to neglect and lack of support.
Eleven years ago Guyanese hopes rose sky high when Kadecia Baird mounted the podium at the World Junior Championships after a stunning silver medal second place finish in the said 400m, Springer is specializing in, at the event in Barcelona Spain. In the process she outran current two-time Olympics champion Shanae Miller-Uibo.
The expected support from home never materialized and Baird disappeared from the scene after following up with gold at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) senior championships.
Bad management turned hopes into disappointment also, in the case of Daniel Williams who also bagged silver at the World Under-18 championships and has not been heard from since.
Similar woes ended the careers of double Carifta champions Cassie George and Jevina Straker who both migrated and faded then into obscurity.
Guyana’s first and so far only boys’ U-20 Carifta and CAC 100m champion Compton Caesar did not migrate, but was left on his own to cope with personal problems and never had a chance to attain similar glory at the next as a senior.
Next up for Springer is her defense of the Carifta U-17 title and if as expected the success story continues in Grenada, the scouts and coaches will come running with scholarship offers mainly in the United States.
The youngster will have options as US scholarships are not always ideal for successful careers eventually. Joining one of the top clubs in Jamaica, that continue to churn out world beaters, like factories, should be another consideration. And if it is best for her to attend college in the United States, it must be at a top Division One Institution and not any small lower classified school with limited track and field programs.
Whatever decision is made though must be done in the athletes’ best interest and not anyone else’s. But it requires special funding and this is where the Government and corporate Guyana must step up to the plate. Living, training and medical expenses must be taken care of fully, without which she could end up like the previously mentioned competitors.
A cost is attached to train under world renowned coaches Stephen Francis and Glen Mills at the MVP and Racers clubs respectively in Jamaica. But the ends justify the means there as apart from the slew of local champions produced, Barbadian Sada Williams a world championship medalist can attest her success to.
If Springer is not yet an Olympic Solidarity fund beneficiary, via the Guyana Olympics Association, she should be. However, that funding will be far from adequate for her needs on the road to becoming a professional, a must to accomplish Olympics stardom.
Our political leaders and other stakeholders are becoming champions at feting successful Guyanese competitors, the latest being new found star cricketer Shamar Joseph.
Amidst the dearth of Olympics stars here, they must be champion providers as well.