St Helena at the Commonwealth Games 2022

 

Team St Helena sent eleven athletes to Birmingham to compete in the 2022 Commonwealth Games, two more than went to the Gold Coast in 2018, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2018/04/st-helena-at-commonwealth-games.html. They flew to Johannesburg from the airport and then caught a connecting flight to London. They then spent eighteen days in the Games' training camp in Cheltenham preparing for the tournament. Because of our heatwaves this summer, acclimatization probably wasn't an issue for a change. St Helena has actually been taking part in the Commonwealth Games since 1982. Before the airport, the athletes travelled the same way everybody used to, by sea on the RMS. On board there was little opportunity for them to work on their fitness. The Saints speciality is swimming and there was a swimming pool on board, but it was tiny; "one stroke and you were across it" as they said. There was also a gym, but it was only big enough for about three at a time. Sporting facilities on the island are very basic, but this hasn't stopped the team's determination to perform as well as they can. Source: https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1119468/saint-helena-chef-de-mission. You'll recognize some of the names from 2018. There were female athletes this time too, Poppy Davis-Coyle and Vivienne Ponsford. Unfortunately none of Team St Helena advanced from the heats, but the swimmers did get twelfth place in the men's 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay. So no medals yet, but the team are clearly maintaining their standards. The airport does help, it can't be denied. I wish them all the best for Victoria 2026.
See here for background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/02/st-helena-airport-portal.html.