Double World Championship 400m Medalist Sada Williams Receives Government Recognition and Reward

It was a second celebration and the first on home soil for double World Championship 400m bronze medalist Sada Williams on Wednesday when the Government rewarded the track star for her outstanding performances.

Sada received a cheque for $150 000 from Deputy Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw and Minister of Sports Charles Griffith. Added to that, a life-size cutout and a billboard depicting the athlete were also unveiled inside and outside of the Grantley Adams International Airport. The eye-catching graphics will greet passengers entering and exiting the airport.

The Bajan sensation warmed our hearts and won her second World Athletics Championships bronze medal in Budapest, Hungary. She finished third in 49.60 seconds, narrowly behind Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek who was second in 49.57 seconds and champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic who crossed the finish line in 48.76 seconds.

Days before, she broke the national record that she set last year when she ran 49.58 seconds behind Kaczmarek.

Sada is the reigning Commonwealth Games 400m champion. She is now the third-ranked female 400m athlete in the world. In the end-of-season world rankings released by World Athletics, the global governing body for athletics, Sada secured that position with 1381 points.

Sada has truly done great credit to our nation as she continues to blaze a trail of track and field success. It was also heartening to read her coach Jamaican Paul Francis say that a medal, gold to be exact, is likely when Sada competes in the 2024 Olympic Games.

He said: “Gold is a realistic goal.” It is very apparent that the best is yet to come.

The Bajan track queen is just 25 years old; therefore, with the right training routine and mental determination, which she clearly has, more celebratory moments are certainly on the horizon. She is deserving of all the accolades we can afford her, monetary or otherwise.

The Government must be lauded for this gesture. It certainly shows that the administration has listened to the cries of the people and acted accordingly.

It was November last year when irate Bajans voiced their concerns about the fact that Sada’s name was not included in the annual National Honours list. It became the hotbed of debate on social media and the call-in programmes.

The issue even garnered regional attention. Caribbean sports channel SportsMax carried a story headlined: 2022 World Championship 400m bronze medallist Sada Williams left out of Barbados’ Independence Awards.

Barbados TODAY echoed these concerns in a previous editorial. Under the headline: Make Wrong Things Right and Honour Sada, our editorial read: “In Trinidad, the Ministry of Sport and Community Development in Trinidad would reward Commonwealth Games medallists over TT$1 million through its 2017-2027 Reward and Incentives framework. TT$250 000 was given to each individual athlete who won gold at the Games. Silver medallists got TT$125 000 while bronze pocketed TT$62 500. In Jamaica, Prime Minister Andrew Holness conferred the Order of Jamaica on Olympian Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce…. No attempts should be made to justify the omission of Sada.… Sada’s name should have been called. Sada should have bowed and been greeted by Her Excellency The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Mason. Sada should have had an honour bestowed upon her.”

We thank the Government for acknowledging Sada’s contribution in this significant way. We are hopeful that this is a sign of an even bigger and better show of support in the future.

Apart from the money, Deputy PM Bradshaw told the media that talks were ongoing between Barbados and Jamaica with the aim of establishing strategic partnerships in sports.

“Our two governments, Barbados and Jamaica, have been working together to establish strategic partnerships in sports and I believe that Sada’s recent success with a Jamaican coach at her side has further cemented the need for us to accelerate those discussions and concretise the framework for our strategic partnership,” she said.

Great news all around.

The question now is: Will the private sector follow suit? Will they match or surpass the government’s $150 000 gesture? Will they join this national celebration of our star athletes? Will they offer substantial financial support to Sada or even other sporting personalities? Indeed, this has been a great period for Bajan sporting talent.

Last week, Hayley Matthews showed the cricketing world why she is phenomenal after she struck an unbelievable 132 off 64 balls in the second Twenty20 International on Monday in Sydney. Her outstanding performance allowed West Indies to level the three-match series 1-1 against hosts and world number one Australia Women. She gave a good account of herself with a half-century in a losing cause to chase down another big Aussie total in a bid to win the series.

Veteran number one world draughts player Suki King is still “pushing” and making his mark. He won the Scottish Drafts Open Championship while competing in Stonehaven, Scotland. Bajan Jack Francis did remarkably well, too.

Congrats Hayley, Suki and Jack.

There is no shortage of Barbadian achievements and displays of excellence in sports.

These gifted ones continue to deliver while putting our country in the global sphere through their God-given talents.

However, these special people who walk among us have to be rewarded for the hard work and sacrifice they continually put in. Their dreams, hopes and aspirations cannot be facilitated by congratulatory messages and sentiments alone. The entire country has to collectively rally. We don’t only owe it to them; we owe it to future generations of Barbadian sports people.