The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee hosted a press conference today at Olympic House to officially release the team selected to participate in the first ever Under 23 2021 Cali, Colombia, Pan American Games, scheduled to take place from 25th November – 5th December 2021.
Ratification of the 40 member TeamTTO delegation by the TTOC council members took place in a meeting held on Tuesday 16th November 2021. Chef de mission, Diane Henderson will be the head of the TeamTTO delegation that includes eight sporting disciplines at the Games, consisting of 23 athletes (18 males, 5 females) and 17 officials.
In the conference held earlier today, the chef de mission stated that all members of the delegation must operate in a health and safety bubble, especially at the Games, while adhering to the biosafety countermeasures put in place by Colombia’s Ministry of Health and the local organizing committee for Panam Sports.
Rheeza Grant, selected as COVID -19 Liaison Officer (CLO) for the team, will once again support Henderson and TeamTTO with all biosafety countermeasures. Jelani Baptiste has also been selected as Medical Officer while Dennora Goerge has been chosen in the massage therapist role. There will be mandatory vaccination for all persons attending the games 18 years and over. Persons are only considered to be fully vaccinated 14-days after the final dose or after taking the one-shot vaccine.
The sports that will be representing Trinidad and Tobago at the Games are athletics, 3 x 3 basketball, boxing, canoe, cycling, triathlon, swimming and weightlifting. Tyriq Horsford, Ianna Roach, Graham Chatoor and Kael Yorke were some of the athletes highlighted today with the most amount of international level experience. Eighty per cent (80%) of the athletes from the delegation will be making their debut in a multisport game.
Horsford will be leading the team in the medal category following his silver medal at the 2017 Junior Commonwealth games in Bahamas. There will be two flag bearers, one male and one female, in the opening ceremony for the games. The flag bearers will come from the sport of cycling and swimming.