Noc: | CAY |
Nocname: | Cayman Islands Olympic Committee |
Games: | Summer Olympics |
Year: | 2008 |
Flagcaption: | Flag of the Cayman Islands |
Location: | Beijing |
Competitors: | 4 |
Sports: | 2 |
Flagbearer: | Ronald Forbes |
Gold: | 0 |
Silver: | 0 |
Bronze: | 0 |
Appearances: | auto |
The Cayman Islands sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The delegation included fifteen people; of the delegation, four athletes participated under the Caymanian flag. In the track and field events was Ronald Forbes, who also served as the Cayman Islands' flag-bearer during the Opening Ceremony and reached quarterfinals in the 110m hurdles, and Cydonie Mothersille, who reached finals and ranked eighth in the 200m dash. Brothers Shaune and Brett Fraser, both swimmers, participated in the 100 and 200m freestyle and in the 200m backstroke, respectively. The Cayman Islands' appearance at the Beijing Olympics marked its ninth appearance since its debut at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The Cayman Islands, up to and including Beijing, have yet to medal.
The Cayman Islands first participated in the Olympics when they sent two male athletes to compete in the Montreál 1976 Summer Olympic Games. Between then and Beijing, the Cayman Islands participated in eight Olympic Games, including every summer Olympic competition excluding the Moscow 1980 Summer Olympics. The number of Caymanian athletes participating in Olympic events peaked at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona with ten athletes, but has since fallen. In the Beijing Olympics, the Cayman Islands sent four athletes—three men and a woman—to participate in two distinct sports. Two athletes progressed to post-preliminary rounds (Ronald Forbes and Cydonie Mothersille) in their events, and Mothersille, ranked eighth in the final round of her event. However, as of and including its participation in Beijing, the Cayman Islands had yet to medal. Ronald Forbes carried the Caymanian flag at ceremonies.
The Cayman Islands Olympic Committee financed the participation of Brett Fraser in swim meets to prepare for the Beijing Olympics. Runner Cydonie Mothersill and swimmer Shaune Fraser were recipients of the Beijing Olympic Scholarship, which was awarded by the International Olympic Committee and paid for their training expenses. The Caymanian Olympic delegation received donations from the Cayman Islands Post Office, Atlantic Star, Ltd, and its director, Fahad Al Rashid, in addition to sponsorships that the athletes garnered. In addition to the athletes, the delegation to Beijing included eleven people. Among the rest of the delegation was CIOC president Donald McLean, athletics coach Kendrick Williams, swimming coaches Dominic Ross and Mark Block, and past president Jerris Miller.
In addition to the actual Olympic delegation, the Cayman Islands sent two 17-year-old athletes—Courtney Stafford, a squash player, and Joseph Jackson, a sailor—to attend the Olympic Youth Camp in Beijing and witness the opening ceremony, torch relay, and various Olympic events.
See main article: article and Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
See main article: article and Swimming at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Then-University of Florida student Brett Fraser was the youngest participant in the Caymanian delegation during the Beijing Olympics, at age 18. He swam for the Cayman Islands alongside his brother, Shaune Fraser, although Brett Fraser specifically qualified for the Men's 200 meter backstroke event. Brett Fraser's participation in the Beijing Olympics marked the first time he participated in any Olympic Games. During the Olympics themselves, Fraser was placed in Heat 1 during the 13 August preliminary round, where he challenged two other athletes: Oleg Rabota of Kazakhstan, and Sergey Pankov of Uzbekistan. Fraser completed his event with a time of 2:01.17, placing him 0.78 seconds ahead of second-place heat finalist Rabota, and almost two seconds ahead of third-place heat finalist Pankov. Fraser lead his heat, but ranked 29th place out of 42 athletes overall, falling approximately five seconds behind round leader Ryan Lochte of the United States, who later medaled gold in the event. Brett Fraser did not progress to the next round.Former University of Florida student Shaune Fraser, elder brother of Brett Fraser, also participated in swimming events at Beijing. The Olympic Games in Beijing marked the second appearance by Shaune Fraser, who appeared before in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens when he was 16 years old. Fraser qualified for three events in Beijing: the 100 meters freestyle, the 200 meters freestyle, and the 100 meters butterfly. He previously participated in the 200 meters freestyle in Athens. In the 200 meters freestyle, Fraser participated in Heat 5 during the 10 August preliminaries. Other swimmers in his heat were Israel's Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or and South Africa's Darian Townsend, who respectively ranked first and second in the heat, while Fraser ranked fifth out of eight athletes with a time of 1:48.60. Fraser ranked behind Japan's Sho Uchida by 0.26 seconds, and ahead of Greece's Andreas Zisimos by 0.22 seconds. Overall, Fraser ranked 26th out of 58 athletes. He did not progress to the semifinals in the event. In the 100 meters freestyle, Fraser participated in Heat 5 during the 12 August preliminary rounds. He swam against athletes including the Czech Republic's Martin Verner and Hungary's Balazs Makany, and completed the event in 49.56 seconds. Fraser placed fourth out of eight athletes, placing between Uruguay's Martin Kutscher (5th place, 50.08 seconds) and Balazs and Lithuania's Paulius Viktoravicius (tied for 2nd place, 49.27 seconds). Overall, Fraser tied Yuriy Yegoshin for 36th place out of 64 athletes. He did not advance to semifinals. Lastly, in the 100 meters butterfly, Shaune Fraser participated in Heat 2 of the 14 August preliminary rounds. He competed against, among others, Malaysia's Daniel Bego and Suriname's Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw. Fraser ranked first in the heat out of seven athletes with a time of 54.08 seconds. Bego, the second-place heat finalist, was 0.3 seconds behind him. Overall, Fraser ranked 51st out of 66 athletes, and did not progress to the semifinal round.
Athlete | Event | Heat | Semifinal | Final | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | |||
Brett Fraser | 200 m backstroke | 2:01.17 | 29 | Did not advance | ||||
align=left rowspan=3 | Shaune Fraser | 100 m freestyle | 49.56 | 36 | Did not advance | |||
200 m freestyle | 1:48.60 | 26 | Did not advance | |||||
100 m butterfly | 53.08 | 51 | Did not advance |