Hasely Crawford at the 1976 Olympics (© Getty Images)
Fourteen retired athletes from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Cuba will be inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Athletics (CACAC) Hall of Fame, in three different ceremonies to be held later this year in their respective countries.
The list includes Olympic medallists Keith Gardner, Leslie Laing and the late Lennox Miller from Jamaica, 1976 Montreal Olympic 100m champion Hasely Crawford and Edwin Roberts of Trinidad and Tobago.
The new Cuban inductees will be sprinters Carmen Valdés, Miguelina Cobián, Fulgencia Romay, the late Marlene Elejalde, Violeta Quesada, Hermes Ramírez, Pablo Montes and Juan Morales, who all won relay medals in the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. Lázaro Betancourt, a 1964 Olympian, will be also inducted for his services to the sport.
The list was agreed during the recent CACAC Congress, held in Nassau following the 20th CAC Senior Championships.
The CACAC council presented the CACAC Hall of Fame inductee plaque to statistician Bernard Linley. British Virgin Islands’ Rey O'Neal was elected the second CACAC vice-president.
In November 2003, the first 15 stars from Jamaica and Cuba were inducted into the Hall of Fame: Jamaica’s Grace Jackson, Herb McKenley, Arthur Wint, Donald Quarrie, George Rhoden, physician Herb Elliot and statistician Richard Gordon Ashenheim.
The Cubans were Silvia Chivás, Maria Colón, Enrique Figuerola, Alberto Juantorena, Silvio Leonard and Ana Quirot, Jesús Molina and physician Richard Pérez, the first CACAC president.
The next CACAC Congress will be held in the British Virgin Islands during the 2006 CAC Junior Championships.
The following competition venues were also decided:
CAC Half Marathon Cup
2005- Negril, Jamaica
2006- Havana, Cuba
Carifta Games
2006- Guadalupe
2007- Turks & Caicos
CAC Championships for athletes aged 10-14 years old
2007-El Salvador
CAC Senior Championships
2007- Caracas, Venezuela
2009- Fort de France, Martinique
