A Team BVI showcase at Glasgow 2014 Opening Ceremony

Team BVI brought a big splash of colour when athlete and flag bearer, Chantel Malone led the delegation into the opening ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games on July 23. The delegation of competitors in Athletics, Squash, and Swimming along with their coaches, the Chef de Mission and CGA chairman, opted to wear territorial dress, debuting the recently adopted emblem of the VI at a global sporting event.

Chantel, who competed in the Long Jump, leapt to the finals with her seasonal best of 6.55m (PB: 6.65m) in the qualifying rounds at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. The mark ranked her 2nd overall in the qualifiers but the elements were not in her favour during the finals. Chantel’s best jump of 6.41m landed her in 4th place with just a narrow margin between her and the 3rd place jump of 6.49 by Canadian, Christabel Nettey. The event Gold medal winner was Ese Brume of Nigeria with a 6.56m jump and Silver was won by Jazmin Sawyers of England with 6.54m.

The fourth place finish in a finals is the highest spot held by a VI athlete in the territory’s Commonwealth Games history to date. The outcome replaces Tahesia Harrigan-Scott’s fifth place 100m finish during the 2006 Games in Melbourne, Australia, as the territory’s best performance.