Belizean Athletes Ace Copa Revolucion Games in Mexico
Seven athletes who participated in the 2023 Copa Revolucion Games in Quintana Roo, Mexico over the long weekend have returned home with eighteen medals. The seven athletes, who also included the current Ms Queen of the Bay, Kendall Morgan, took part in six different track and field disciplines. And according to team leader, Fred Usher Junior, they represented Belize well, with each person bringing back at least one medal. News Five’s Marion Ali reports.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The many sacrifices, intense training sessions, and related physical exercise that the seven Belizean athletes had to put in to achieve a good showing at the recent 2023 Copa Revolucion Games in Mexico have paid off. The athletes returned home with eighteen medals. Team Leader, Fred Usher, Jr., shared the results with us this evening.
Frederick Usher Jr.
Frederick Usher Jr., Team Leader, 2023 COPA Delegation
“Jada Logan got first in the long jump and third in the 400 meters. Jalen O’Brien, he placed second in the 400 meters. Donovan Grinage got second in the long jump, first in the 400 meters, first in shot put, and third in javelin. Juan Portillo got second in shot put. Miss Kendall Morgan, Queen of the Bay, got first in the 100 meters, the 200, the 400, javelin, and she got second in long jump. We have Gina Tejeda. She did the shot put and javelin – just the field events. She got gold and silver.”
Usher said the athletes trained hard in uncertain weather conditions.
Frederick Usher Jr.
“This is my fourth year competing. Some of the athletes first year and some of them, that’s their second year. For me, I train all year round for track and field so, We’re just getting a rest now, it’s off season, so the preparation has been hard, trust me. Even when it was raining these past days, we were out there at the track. If the track was wet, we switched and we did gym work. It’s very hard because the other athletes out there, they get paid to actually do track and field or any sport. So it’s all in the mind. And we went across there with the mindset that we were going to bring back gold no matter what for any event we did. We had a couple mishaps, like we didn’t have breaks in between some of our races, especially for me, like heats, yes. The organizer, like he was surprised at the outcome of the athletes coming out because it gets bigger every year. It’s seven years, so I had to run twice and that was a drag on me. The time between, it was very short, so it took a toll on me.”
Marion Ali
“But you came in first.”
Fred Usher Jr.
“Yes.”
Usher says altogether, there were about a hundred athletes from four Central American countries taking part in the events. Another of the challenges was getting to the games. He said a lot of it had to come from the athletes’ pockets and they would appreciate help next year.
Fred Usher Jr.
“It’s not an official event on the Athletics Association, so we didn’t want to pressure them, but we still asked, but they gave us permission to actually go and represent the country. I asked out of courtesy. So I still want to big them up for that because we had to take some equipment, too. So, we would like more, I would say, a lot more help for this event, because it’s every year, so, mainly from the Minister of Sports, or any other business places.”
Marion Ali for News Five.
