Jelani Beckles
THE track pair of Jereem Richards and Leah Bertrand swept the senior awards when the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) held its 2024 ceremony on December 29 at the Government Plaza Auditorium in Port of Spain.
Richards and Bertrand both represented TT at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Richards won the 2024 Sportsman of the Year award and Bertrand took home the Sportswoman of the Year award.
Richards advanced to the final of the men’s 400-metre event in Paris, finishing agonisingly short of a medal. The TT runner broke the national record when he clocked 43.78 seconds, .04 of a second behind third-placed finisher Muzala Samukonga of Zambia.
Bertrand, 22, made her Olympic debut in Paris and had a creditable showing as she progressed to the semifinals, before being eliminated. She dominated on the local circuit.
For the third consecutive year, swimmer Nikoli Blackman won the Junior Sportsman of the Year award. Blackman has been getting experience at the University of Tennessee, a top university for swimming in the US.
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He has also been representing TT at regional and international meets including the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Junior Sportswoman of the Year Zuri Ferguson, 17, also competed at the World Aquatics Championships, along with Dylan Carter, who represented TT in the pool in Paris. Ferguson broke multiple national records in 2024.
Junior cyclist Makaira Wallace earned the People’s Choice Award. Wallace, 18, copped two silver medals at the Junior World Track Cycling Championships in China in August.
Paralympian Akeem Stewart continues to star on the world stage and was awarded the Sports Personality of the Year award.
Sharntelle McLean, a former Olympic swimmer turned coach, was given the Future is Female Award.
The Alexander B Chapman award, given to someone for outstanding contribution to sport and Olympism, was won by June Durham.
One of Durham’s contributions in recent years was being part of the medical team for the 2020 TT Tokyo Olympic contingent.
