Pictures courtesy of Andre Rattigan

A very special Olympian
Saturday, March 15th 2008

It’s a sunny Thursday morning and Ancil Greene is
teaching a class at St Michael’s Swimming Pool in San
Fernando. Dubbed “the instructor who can teach
anyone”, he’s trained children, adults, flight
attendants and boasts that he has even repaired a
couple of swimming pools. Some students come from as
far as Port of Spain to be coached by him. “Teaching
is not a problem for me,” he explained. “I have my own
method of teaching everyone. You will find that I can
teach some people faster than other instructors.” It’s
difficult to believe that the 31-year-old only started
swimming seriously seven years ago - when he got a job
as a pool attendant at St Michael’s.

Today, Greene is a lifeguard, an instructor, the
national triathlon champion and was nominated as
Sportsman of the Year. He took part in the Special
Olympics in 1995 and 1999 (he has been diagnosed with
attention-deficit disorder), winning two gold medals
and a silver. But Greene, who won the national
triathlon, a 1500m swim/40km cycle/10km run, in a time
of 2:15:20 last October, says he never thought he
would become an athlete. “I just wanted to be a
soldier or mechanic. Those were my dreams. However, I
guess I found my true passion in sport. I have
absolutely no regrets.”

More here

The Canadian Junior Open in Ontario, Canada was a huge event for the All-Jamaica men’s Senior champion, Chris Binnie. Binnie defeated Ryan Herden of Canada in the sem-finals in the Under-19 category with a 9-2, 2-9, 9-3, 9-2 victory. In the quarter-finals, Binnie again gained victory by defeating Mexican Jonathon Ramos in straight sets. but was defeated in the final by Shannon Kelly of Canada. Nonetheless, he has made Jamaica proud and now with his fellow compatriots, Brooke Burrows and Leisa Robotham who were also successful in their tournament held at the White Oaks Fitness and Racquet Club, are now heading off to the U.S. Junior Open in Hartford, Connecticut.

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West Indies struck another blow to Zimbabwe’s hopes of winning the series when the pacey Jerome Taylor brought superb bowling to bear on them. In the end the Windies won by six wickets with 22 overs to spare. Read more about it here.

The 2007 Special Olympics is now underway in Shanghai and the Caribbean contingent are carrying the flag high. Jamaica seems to be charting the course with 34 medals so far. The latest medal being in football where they beat the host China 6-1 in the final to remain unbeaten. Get more results here.

Trinidad and Tobago’s very own Stacey Siu Butt will be inducted into the American University’s Hall of Fame next January in recognition of her efforts which lead to national renown in the mid-1990s. At AU she had the following accolades:

• US collegiate Rookie of the Year
• first team All Central Athletic Association
• Took the UA team to the CAA finals for the first time in its history
• Most goals in a game
• Most points in a game
• Most goals in a season
• Most points in a season
• most career points and goals
• co owner of the CAA record for goals in a tournament

Read more on her here.
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	Thursday, September 13th 2007

HAND STAND: Neil Diaz, the 2007 Eastern Caribbean men’s fitness champion. A trip to Spain is the big incentive for fitness competitors at the Trinidad and Tobago Senior National Bodybuilding Championships, which take place on Saturday at Queen’s Hall.The Trinidad and Tobago Bodybuilding Federation have announced that they are sending a team of four competitors to the 25th IFBB Women’s World Bodybuilding, Fitness & Body Fitness Championships in Santa Susanna, Spain, from September 20-23, 2007. More here.

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Nero 2nd in BarbadosFriday, September 14th 2007

Trinidadand Tobago cyclist Gavyn Nero finished second among the juniors at the Barbados Junior and Juveniles Road Championships, recently. The winner of the 84-kilometre race was Jyme Bridges, of Antigua. More here

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Bangladesh won by an emphatic six wicket win over the West Indies to knock them out of the Twenty20 series being held in Johannesburg. After they won the toss and elected to send the Windies in to bat. Limited to just 164/8. Led by captain Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh responded viciously, making 61 of 27 balls to reach their target with two overs to spare. Get the details here.

Roy Keane had nothing but confidence in his striker  Stern John after a last minute goal brought Sunderland level at 2-2 in the English Premiere League on Wednesday evening.

“I knew he’d score, because in the corridor here I saw a picture of him scoring as a Birmingham player…” said Keane.

Keane’s men salvaged the draw with only 10 men after the T&T midfielder Carlos Edwards limped off with a hamstring injury. John, who had come on as a substitute for David Conolly, created the saving goal by heading back in a parried save from a free kick.