7 News Belize

Shanicka Won A Gold But Lost Her Health...
posted (May 30, 2014)
Last weekend, a delegation of 19 juniour athletes went to Nicaragua to participate in the 2014 CADICA Jr A and JR B Tournament. They did modestly well, earning ten medals, most of them bronze. Acting President of the Belize Amateur Athletic Association Jaheed Smith gave us a rundown:..

Jaheed Smith
"We went at the Central American Junior A and B competition. I believe that we did fairly well with the circumstances that we had to encounter, but we came back with 10 medals; we had one gold, two silvers and 7 bronze medals. We had Shanika Augustine had the gold in the Long Jump, We had the silver by Jervis Myvette, 200 Meter, silver also by Gloria Serano in the discus and the bronze came by the Junior A male 4x100 Meter relay, Ashanti Carr in the Triple Jump, we had Jaren Lino in the Triple and Long Jump, we had Gloria as well with the Shot put and Diana Cook in High Jump."

But the only gold medalist, long jumper 17 year old Shanicka Augustine, is in poor health since the games. The student of Anglican Cathedral College fell ill while in Nicaragua.

Reports are that she fainted at least 6 times and had to be admitted in the hospital. Despite her health issues, she had to board a bus back to Belize for the 24 hour ride. While travelling through Guatemala, she passed out on the bus and had to be rushed to a hospital in Guatemala where she was admitted on Monday.

We were told that she was in no condition to board a bus back to Belize but the track and field association did not have additional funds to fly her back home. So, she left Guatemala on Tuesday by road and arrived with the contingent on Wednesday afternoon in the city - many hours later.

She was taken to a private doctor in Belize City and an Electro Cardio Gram performed. A CAT scan was done today. So far no diagnosis on her condition has been made. But despite not knowing what is the cause of her constant fainting episodes is, she was at school yesterday, taking her CXC examination. That's where Monica Bodden caught up with her.

Shanicka Augustine
"While in Nicaragua, I and my teammates did great. I went for 5 events; long and triple jump and 100 meters, 4x1 relay and meddling, meddling is one person runs the 100, 200, 300 and 400. For my long jump I did very well. I jump 539 which got me the first place gold medal and for my 100 meters I was feeling a little down but after the results of the race, I got second place running 1297 for my time. I feel good, but in a way I feel bad because then I know that I could have brought back 2 because I definitely would have won the triple jump because that's my thing."

A number of athletes reported to 7news that there was a lock of water and they had to go hours without anything to drink.

So, what went wrong? And could it have been prevented? That's what we asked the association leaders today:

Deon Sutherland, Execurive Member, BAA
"We had about 6 athletes that were 4th formers and those were some of our better athletes and they had an exam the Wednesday, so the executive decided that we wait for those athletes and then we travel. We didn't travel with these chicken and hen buses, we were comfortable, in terms the bus was comfortable, it's the Executive Bus and so the comfort was there, it's just that the time. I don't know how that could be a factor because we were never water deprived at any time. Nicaragua was very hot, I must say, far hotter than Belize. Of course our athletes are not used to that water, but we had sufficient water."

Jaheed Smith
"With the water issue I don't really know how to comment on it. We tries our best to provide them with water and Gatorade as much as possible. Nicaragua was hot. It was at least 97 degrees every day that we were there and I don't know if it was a shortage of water, but every time that we went to the supermarket to purchase we could have only gotten maybe 2-3 cases because it was finish because either the locals or the other countries were buying water because everybody was feeling the thirst, but we did the best that we could in getting them water. At the track there was a medic tent and at any time we told them they can go there and get the water and Gatorade as well, so I believe that we tried as best as possible to get them hydrated."

Jules Vasquez
"Shanika had health problems, she fainted a number of times and eventually she had to come back on the bus where her problems multiplied. What was that about?"

Deon Sutherland
"Well we are still not sure. She fainted a couple times and we took her to the doctor, they had to run some more tests. Unfortunately it was the same day that we were schedule back. We got back into Guatemala and then we had to go directly to a hospital, We did some more tests and she was okay, she manage to get back, we had a referral from the doctors over there for her parents here and so I believe the parents will deal with it. We still don't have a clue as to what it is. It seems to have something to do with her heart, but as I said we have to contact the parents after they have done further referral as to what is the problem."

Jules Vasquez
"Should she have been flown back Mr. Sutherland?"

Deon Sutherland
"I guess hindsight you could say a lot of things but given the situation as it were we had to do with what we had."

Jaheed Smith
"We all traveled by bus as I said due to lack of funds. When her situation arise we were ask to leave her in Nicaragua to run some more tests but she, being young and I believe scared didn't want to stay and she was worried about graduation, she work so hard, so she wanted to graduate so she wanted to take that risk in coming back. We were thinking that if we were to leave her there when we came back we would try to raise funds however we can to get her a flight out, but we just couldn't do that on the fly there, so she decided to come back with us with the team because as I said she wanted to graduate and so we kind of took that chance, but we told her that any problem along the way happen we will definitely take her to the hospital and that's what we sadly end up doing."

The BAAA is now preparing for the Commonwealth Games later this summer.

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