Minister of Youth, Sports, and Community Empowerment, Charles Griffith, has joined with the rest of the Barbadian public in congratulating Sada Williams, on her historic gold medal triumph at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Sada created history by becoming the first Barbadian woman on Sunday to win a gold medal in the 400 metres final on the penultimate day of the Games in Birmingham.
The 24-year-old, the 2022 World Championship bronze medalist, clocked a championship record of 49.90 seconds to record an emphatic win, giving Barbados its 15th medal overall in the Commonwealth Games since we started to field a delegation at the event in 1954.
This was the first time a woman had won the event in under 50 seconds, as Sada eclipsed the previous championship record of 50.10 seconds which was set by Botswana’s Amantle Montsho in India in 2010.
Sada Williams’ gold was the third medal for Barbados at the 2022 games, coming after Shane Brathwaite who secured silver in the 110 metre hurdles clocking 13.30 second. Jonathan Jones ran 44.89 seconds to win bronze in the men’s 400 metres final behind Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga and England’s Matthew Hudson-Smith.
It should also be pointed out that Sada’s win represents the third gold medal for Barbados, and Shane’s achievement also represents the fourth silver medal attained by Barbados, both in the history of the Commonwealth Games.
All of our athletes should be commended for their efforts, including Asa Weithers, who reached the bronze round of the judo event and Nathan Crawford-Wallis, the young triple high jumper, who recorded his personal best and placed sixth overall. Mention should also be made of the men’s squash doubles team who made it to the semi-finals.
The Government and people of Barbados are proud of all the athletes and officials who represented our country and who demonstrated the immense talent that we have in sports. We wish them many years of continued success and will continue to work fervently with all the national sports federations to support our current athletes, and enhance the development of sports so that we can create more milestones in the future. (PR)
