2021 CARIFTA Swimming Championships still on

As the world navigates the COVID-19 pandemic, different sporting disciplines have resumed play around the globe. One such event that will be a go is the 2021 CARIFTA Swimming Championships slated for April 3-6, 2021, at the Barbados Aquatics Center in Wildey, Christ Church, Barbados.

The announcement was made on Sunday, November 1, by Tony Selby, president of the Barbados Amateur Swimming Association (BASA). Along with that, CARIFTA will also be a qualifying meet for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games.

“We can also report that we (Barbados) have received approval from FINA (International Swimming Federation) for our Long Course Nationals, March 2-7, 2021 and CARIFTA April 3-6 , 2021, for these meets to be FINA-approved qualifying meets for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics,” Selby said.

He added: “Several Federations in the Eastern Caribbean do not have 50-meter pools and having CARIFTA as an Olympic qualifying meet provides an opportunity for athletes in the region to compete and hopefully achieve Olympic qualifying standards.”

The world was turned upside down as the COVID-19 pandemic became prominent in March of this year. Several big sporting meets were canceled, including the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics Games, which was postponed to Summer of 2021. In addition to that, the 2020 CARIFTA Swimming, Water Polo and Artistic Swimming along with Open Water Championships were postponed to 2021. Barbados was the host and because they did not host it this past Easter, they were the host for the 2021 Championships. That means that St. Lucia, set to host the Championships in 2021, will now host it in 2022.

The Bahamas was looking forward to winning a fourth straight swimming title in the pool. The Bahamas has three consecutive CARIFTA titles under its belt – the only Federation to have done it. The swim team has captured five of the last six titles, with Guadeloupe spoiling a three-peat back in 2016 in Fort-de-France, Martinique.

Last year, the swimmers won 73 medals, inclusive of 35 gold, 18 silver and 20 bronze. The closest country to them was Jamaica with 59 total medals, including 22 gold medals. Trinidad and Tobago finished third with 43 total medals – 17 of which were gold.

In the point standings, The Bahamas won with 889.50 points. Jamaica was second with 748 points and Trinidad and Tobago finished third with 676 points.

As for the Water Polo and Artistic Swimming Championship portion of the meet, Selby said that they are awaiting approval from the Barbados COVID-19 Task Force.

“The summons for CARIFTA 2021 has been prepared in draft and we are awaiting approval from our COVID-19 Task Force, particularly in respect to water polo and artistic swimming. We expect to receive final approvals before the end of November and will inform all Federations as soon as the approvals are received and will issue the summons as soon possible thereafter,” Selby said.

In CARIFTA water polo last year, The Bahamas’ under-16 boys team won the gold medal, the under-14 mixed team won the silver medal and the under-19 boys team brought back a bronze medal.

Selby and his team are aware of travel protocols currently in other countries in the region. He sent out a consideration to countries who will be participating in the meet.

“A consideration that we can put to regional governments for Caribbean countries that may not be in the CARICOM travel bubble, is that teams intending to participate in CARIFTA be tested (a particular number of days) prior to arrival in Barbados and if negative, the members be permitted to enter Barbados without further tests and return to their countries after their competition,” Selby said.

As of now, Selby also advised that Barbados did not have community spread of COVID-19. Their government has put protocols in place. They will look to keep it that way as they try to keep the country open.

Barbados has made some changes to its travel protocols that took effect on November 3. Some of those changes include adding some countries to the high-risk category. The Bahamas was already in the high-risk category before the new protocols were introduced.

More information on the travel protocols is available on the Barbados Government’s website.

There are seven active and isolated cases in Barbados in their latest COVID-19 statistics released on November 2. The latest positive case was on October 30.

According to Selby, their swimming facilities have been opened in Barbados from the end of July without any incidents. In addition, the Barbados COVID-19 Task Force has approved BASA’s request to host pool swimming and open water swimming competitions.

Barbados is set to host its Short Course National Championships in early December. In mid-December, one of BASA clubs will host a long course swimming meet.

He is hoping that travel logistics among others can be agreed before the end of this month.

The 49th version of the CARIFTA Track and Field Championships, which was set for 2020, will now be held April 3-5, 2021, still at the Bermuda National Sports Centre in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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