Trinidad and Tobago's main Pan American Games swimming prospect, George Bovell III made the Olympic A qualifing time despite finishing only fifth in the 50 metres freestyle at the French Open on Sunday.

Bovell, who will be competing at a Pan Am Games for the first time since his four-medal haul in Santo Domingo in 2003, clocked 22.26 seconds to finish behind Frenchman Florent Manaudou (21.61), Brazilian Cesar Cielo (22.15), Kristian Gkolomev (22.17), and Ukranian Andriy Govorov (22.21). On Saturday, in the 50m breatstroke final, Bovell set a new national record in clocking 27.57 seconds to finish third.

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Gold as well for Bledman

Cleopatra Borel captured the Istvan Gyulai Memorial women's shot put title, in Hungary, yesterday. Borel produced a big 19.26 metres effort—a new meet record and her best throw in four years—to secure the top spot ahead of American Michelle Carter (19.20m).

The Trinidad and Tobago field athlete is fourth on the 2015 world performance list.

On Saturday, Borel finished fourth at the Meeting Areva IAAF Diamond League meet, in Paris, France, with a 19.07m throw.

Renny Quow was also in fine form in Hungary yesterday, the T&T quartermiler bagging bronze in the men's 400m in 44.72 seconds. The clocking was the fastest produced by Quow since 2009, the year he finished third in the IAAF World Championship final in Berlin, Germany. He had run a personal best 44.53 in the semifinal round. Bahamian Steven Gardiner emerged victorious in Hungary in 44.30 seconds, while second spot went to American LaShawn Merritt in 44.43.

Quow, who captured the national one-lap title last month in 44.90 seconds, jumped from 18th to 15th on the 2015 world performance list with yesterday's 44.72 run.

Keston Bledman, who is joint-fourth on the 2015 men's 100m list with France's Jimmy Vicaut thanks to the 9.86 seconds scorcher he produced to win the T&T title, was again in winners' row on Monday.

Bledman stopped the clock at 10.02 seconds for gold at the Meeting Pro Athlé, in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France. The 27-year-old track star forced Americans Mike Rodgers (10.06) and Charles Silmon (10.23) to settle for the minor medals. And at the Cork City Sports International Athletics Meet, in Ireland yesterday, T&T's Jarrin Solomon finished fourth in a men's 200m race in 21.87 seconds.

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News that a host city  will be selected for the inaugural  2017 ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committee) World Beach Games at the organisation's General Assembly in Washington D.C. in October, , with the historic event set to feature 15 sports.
Is excellent news for the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee  (TTOC ).

TTOC president Brian Lewis announced earlier this year that he is proposing that the national Olympic Committee will hold the inaugural TTOC National Beach Games in 2017.
The intention is for Trinidad and Tobago to be the Beach Games capital of the region.
Lewis has been holding discussions  with interested organisations in Trinidad and Tobago and will accelerate further discussions on his return from the Pan Am Games.
The TTOC will participate and enter a team in the inaugural ANOC World Beach Games.
Confirmation by ANOC that significant progress has been made and a host city will be announced at the upcoming ANOC General Assembly in Washington DC in October will give the TTOC National Beach Games project added impetus.
" Its great news. The Olympic Movement can't stand still. The Movement under the current IOC and ANOC presidents is heading in the right direction.  Bold and innovative actions are required to ensure the Olympic Movement is relevant and fit for purpose and sustainable given the context of contemporary society . "

A host will be selected for the 2017 ANOC (Association of National Olympic Committee) World Beach Games at the organisation's General Assembly in Washington D.C. in October, it was revealed here today, with the inaugural event set to feature 15 sports.

Discussions on the event at last month's ANOC Executive Council meeting in Lausanne were based predominantly around conceptual discussions, with no decision of sports and location thought imminent and the Games believed likely to be held only at some stage between 2017 and 2019.

But following that meeting, a Working Group chaired by Hong Kong's Timothy Fok was set up to speed up preparations and a meeting took place on June 29.

Since then, letters have been sent out to all National Olympic Committees inviting applications to host the event ahead of a deadline of July 31, with an Evaluation Process to then take place ahead of the meeting in the United States capital scheduled for October 29 and 30.

This was revealed by ANOC secretary general Gunilla Lindberg today during an ANOC update here as part of the Pan American Sports Organization General Assembly.

Of the 15 sports set to appear in the first edition, 13 will be chosen by ANOC with the remaining two to be selected by the host city.

All will be non-Olympic sports and disciplines, it was announced, although the Swede revealed to insidethegames afterwards how this can include beach varieties of sports on the programme, such as beach handball and basketball 3x3.

insidethegames understands that letters were sent by ANOC to selected sports today, with surfing among those to have received one.

The event will be known as the ANOC World Beach Games, Lindberg added.

The World Beach Games title had already been trademarked by SportAccord when awarding its ill-fated event to Sochi in April.

This will no longer take place following confirmation last month that Russia had pulled out of a deal with SportAccord to host next year's SportAccord Convention and other events following the conflict between the organisation and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which culminated in the resignation of the former body's President, Marius Vizer.

Lindberg, who is also a member of the IOC Executive Board and was speaking today in the absence of ANOC President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, highlighted the IOC's support for the ANOC version, which is seeking to become the third biggest event in sport.

Meanwhile, the Swede also announced that this year's second ANOC Gala Awards Ceremony, to be held during the General Assembly in Washington, will feature new awards recognising the best male and best female athletes from the various Continental Games.

Athletes' Commissions from each continental federation will propose a shortlist which will then be whittled down by an ANOC jury.

As well as the Pan American Games starting here on Friday (July 10) and the Pacific Games currently taking place in Port Moresby, this is also expected to include last year's Asian Games in Incheon, last month's European Games in Baku and the All Africa Games, due to take place in Brazzaville in September.

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Pan Am athletes to be rewarded for success in Canada

The Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC), in an effort to give its athletes extra motivation to perform at the Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada, has announced medal bonuses which will form part of the TTOC's 10 or more Olympic gold medals athlete welfare and preparation programme.

TTOC president Brian Lewis set a national objective to achieve eight more Olympic gold medals by the 2024 Summer Games and for the first time in its history the TTOC will have a medal bonus which will see athletes getting US$3,000 for winning a gold medal, US$2,000 for a silver and US$1,000 for bronze in individual competition at the Toronto Games which start on Friday.

In the relay events, teams will get US$9,000 for gold, US$6,000 for silver and US$3,000 for bronze.

In respect of team sports, US$1,500 will be rewarded per athlete for a gold, US$1,000 for silver and US$750 for bronze.

The TTOC is determined to take the necessary steps and decisions in its effort to create the environment that will assist

the athletes in striving to achieve medal winning objectives.

TTOC vice-president Dr Ian Hypolite feels that the introduction of the medal bonuses could be a very worthwhile initiative.

He said that while athletes are already motivated to do well, the incentives will let them know their efforts are appreciated and will be like the icing on the cake.

“Anything that serves to incentivise our athletes is obviously welcome,” Hypolite told the Express. “It is a bold initiative and principle in the cause in an attempt to incorporate corporate Trinidad in the process.”

“There are a lot of expectations surrounding our athletes but I think the public needs to understand that athletic success is not a give and that support is always vital. The incentives are one thing but what the TTOC is really calling upon is for corporate Trinidad and Tobago to support our athletes,” he explained.

“Motivation is a complex thing. Many athletes are already intrinsically motivated however some extrinsic motivation in the form of a reward can always be like the icing on the cake so to speak,” Hypolite added.

“I don't think there are any athletes who are going to say they are going to run for the money. They are already motivated to do well but I think the rewards will be an indication of some level of appreciation for the athletes' commitment towards Trinidad and Tobago and I think that is also a major consideration,” he said.

According to a TTOC press release, “the introduction of medal bonuses is an essential component of the 10 or more Olympic Gold medals athlete welfare and preparation programme.

“In pursuit of its strategic goals and objectives the TTOC acknowledges the support of its corporate partners: bpTT, Guardian Group, Scotiabank, Adidas, Lisa Communications and NLCB. It is an exciting time for the TTOC. Rio 2016 is just around the corner. Pan Am Toronto will get underway this week. Lots of challenges but it's exciting,” the release stated.

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