Sprinters Jereem ‘The Dream’ Richards and Michelle-Lee Ahye were voted the Senior Men and Women’s Sportsman and Woman of the Year yesterday when the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA) held its Annual Awards at the Hotel Radisson in Port-of-Spain on Saturday.

Richards who had an outstanding 2022 season, was expected to walk away comfortably with the award for the men, as he did the previous two years following a season that saw him cop the first-ever gold medal for T&T at the World Athletic Indoor Championships after powering past the finish line in the 400 metres final in a time of 45.00 seconds at the Stark Arena in Beograd, Serbia.

With that performance, he also broke the national indoor record that was once held by Deon Lendore who died in a vehicle accident last year. However, the icing on the cake for Richards came when he forced the world to listen to the country’s national anthem on its national instrument- the steelpan, following his triumph in the Commonwealth Games 200 metres final in a personal best time of 19.80 seconds.

With that time, the Point Fortin resident erased the Commonwealth Games record which was held by Frankie Fredericks (19.97). Yesterday Richard was not on hand to receive his award, which made it three awards in a row.

Last month he was handed the TTOC’s Sportsman of the Year as well as the Sports Personality of the Year.

Ahye on the other hand was a semifinalist at the women’s 100 metres at the Commonwealth Games and the World Track and Field Championships.

NAAA’s president George Commission was full of praises for the athletes and was quick to highlight some of his officials who also did well.

“Despite the challenges posed by covid 19, we were able to undertake most of the tasks required to have a somewhat normal season. As the year progressed, we were able to host a number of development meets and host Carifta trials

In May, we restructured the Republic Bank Relay Festival and at the international level, we can boast that we were able to field teams for all major meets for which we were eligible. Our athletes were not the only members of the fraternity that performed impressively.

Our support personnel also got full attention, particular mention this evening is the appointment of Jinelle Edwards, Michelle Stoute-Lopez and John Andalcio, three of the top 11 technical officiating positions at the 2022 Carifta Games in Jamaica.”

For 2023, we anticipate some challenges as it will be a busy year in terms of international relations and the athletes are expected to return high standards if they are to succeed in international conditions.

The track and field boss also said the year will be a hectic one as qualifiers for the Olympic Games in Paris, France will also being this year.

NAAA 2022 HONOUR ROLL

Jenna Marie Thomas – President’s Rising Star Award 2

Awards For Outstanding Performance in 2022:

Akeem Stewart (New National Record – Men’s Shot Put)

Lalenii Grant (New National Record – U20 Women’s Discus Throw)

Aaron Antoine (New National Record – U20 Men’s High Jump)

Tyra Gittens (Matching National Record – Women’s High Jump)

Kenika Cassar (New National Record – U18 Women’s Javelin)

Kion Benjamin (Men’s 4X100 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Jerod Elcock (Men’s 4X100 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Kyle Greaux (Men’s 4X100 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Eric Harrison Jnr. (Men’s 4X100 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games)

Akanni Hislop (Men’s 4X100 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Machel Cedenio (Men’s 4X400 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games)

Asa Guevara (Men’s 4X400 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Kashief King (Men’s 4X400 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Che Lara (Men’s 4X400 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Jereem Richards (Men’s 4X400 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games) Dwight St Hillaire (Men’s 4X400 Relay Team – 2022 Commonwealth Games)

Jereem Richards (New National Championships Record (Men’s 200m) – National Open Championships 2022) (New Championships Record & New National Indoors Record (Men’s 400m) – World Athletics Indoor Championships 2022) (New Games Record (Men’s 200m) – Commonwealth Games 2022)