The six-member team comprising Kirani James, Lindon Victor, Anderson Peters, Halle Hazzard, Tilly Collymore and Zachary Gresham will be celebrated for their efforts in track and field and in the pool, as they gave Grenada much to be proud of.
Victor’s decathlon bronze, as well as Peters javelin bronze represents the Spice Isle’s highest-ever medal haul at an Olympic Games.
James, the island’s most decorated athlete, just missed out on a medal in the men’s 400m, as he placed fifth.
In a press release issued on Wednesday, the Government of Grenada announced that ceremonies will take place on Saturday August 17 and Sunday, August 18.
Peters, James and Victor will arrive on Saturday.
“The activities have been put in place to celebrate athletes who have brought glory and honour to our land,” said Acting Minister of Sports Delma Thomas.
“Let’s get together and be part of the grandest welcome ever, as we celebrate Grenadian resilience and excellence,” she added, while encouraging citizens throughout Grenada to organize in their various communities to participate, especially in the events on Sunday.
The athletes will be greeted by government officials, sport associations’ executives and family members, while Grenadians are invited to join the greeting party outside of the airport at 2:00pm. The weekend’s activities will also include a national motorcade on Sunday, August 18, which begins at Morne Rouge and a recognition rally at the Playing field in Victor’s home parish La Sagesse.
Thomas also hinted at some major announcements regarding the development of sports that will be made at the La Sagesse rally. Packages to honour all the Olympians will also be unveiled in a special address by Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
In the finals run over three, Hazzard, Grenada’s 2018 Junior Sportswoman of the Year and a senior at the University of Virginia, clocked 24.04, her time in Section 1, from which two of the three medalists emerged.
Kayla Bonnick, a graduate of St. Jago High School in Jamaica and a freshman at Virginia, clocked 24.72 for second in Section 1, but was third overall as Kiyah East of Louisville, won Section 3 in 24.55 for second place overall.
James is the most experienced member of the team, having competed at the London, Rio and Tokyo Olympic Games and 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019 and 2022 World Championships.
He missed out on the 2017 World Championships due to illness. He is the most decorated 400-metre runner in history, winning gold, silver and bronze medals at both Olympic Games and World Championships.
The team also include two-time Javelin World champion, Anderson Peters; Commonwealth Games Decathlon champion, Lindon Victor and female sprinter Halle Hazzard.
Peters is attempting to rewrite the history books with a third consecutive gold medal at the World Championships.
The World Championships will take place August 19-27 at Hungary’s new National Athletics Centre in Budapest.
Grant, a junior at Norfolk State, a former Jamaican U20 100m record holder, clocked 7.20s in a comfortable victory over Virginia’s Halle Hazzard who clocked 7.29. The Grenadian’s teammate Jada Seaman was third in 7.37.
The final was expected to be a closer affair as the two women advanced with the two fastest times – Grant with 7.36 and Hazzard 0.01. However, Grant produced a personal-best performance to put the matter beyond doubt.
Meanwhile, Virginia’s Owayne Owens won the men’s long jump with a personal-best 7.58m, the same distance as North Carolina’s Ja’Von Douglas, who was second on the countback. Chris Alexander, also from North Carolina, was third with a mark of 7.03m.
In a final where three Caribbean nations – Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda and Grenada – were represented, Nelson stormed to victory, pulling away from the stacked field to produce a massive personal best that is both a meet and championship record, eclipsing the 7.07 held jointly by Oregon’s Hannah Cunliffe and LSU Aleia Hobbs.
The time, a school record, was also just 0.03 off the 7.02 facility record set by Tiana Madison (Bartoletta) in 2012.
It was also the second-fastest time in the world this year behind the 7.03 set by Switzerland’s AJla Del Ponte at the recent European Indoor Championships in Torun.
USC’s Twanisha Terry, the pre-race favourite, who went into the final with the fastest time, 7.09, won the silver medal in 7.14s.
It was a Jamaican 1-3 as former Jamaica national junior record holder Kiara Grant took third in 7.16.
Antigua’s Joella Lloyd, who two weeks ago set a new national record of 7.15 was sixth in 7.23 while Grenada’s Halle Hazzard, a senior at Virginia, was eighth on 7.27.
Nelson, 21, attended Mt Alvernia High School in Montego Bay, Jamaica and transferred to Oregon in October 2020, having spent her first three years of college at the University of Technology in Kingston.
In doing so, she became the first Jamaican-born female athlete to attend the University of Oregon, having expressed a desire to compete in NCAA-level athletics.
Having fulfilled her desire, she expressed her delight on Instagram afterwards saying, “What a way to close out the indoor season.”
