NEW YORK (CMC):
A popular Caribbean-American magazine in New York has named Eastern Caribbean Olympians as ‘Persons of the Year’ for 2024.
Herman Hall, the Grenada-born publisher and owner of the Brooklyn, New York-based Everybody’s magazine, said that readers of the 47-year-old publication have chosen Eastern Caribbean Olympians for their “triumphs at the 2024 Paris Olympiad”.
They are Julien Alfred of St Lucia; Thea LaFond-Gadson of Dominica; Lindon Victor, Anderson Peters and Kirani James of Grenada; and Shafiqua Maloney of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Alfred, 23, won St Lucia’s first-ever Olympic medal, attaining gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in the 100 metres and establishing a new national record of 10.72 seconds in the final.
In winning gold in the triple jump at the 2024 Summer Olympics, LaFond-Gadson, 30, also became the first-ever Dominican Olympic medallist. She was also the 2024 World Indoor triple jump champion.
Victor, 31, is the 2023 World and 2024 Olympic bronze medallist for the decathlon and a two-time Commonwealth Games champion (2018–2022).
Meanwhile, the 27-year-old Peters won bronze in the men’s javelin at the Paris Olympics. He was also the 2019 and 2022 World champion in the discipline, in addition to being a multiple Carifta Games champion.
Specialising in the 400m, James, 32, Grenada’s first Olympic medallist, won the 400m at the World Championships in 2011 and captured gold at the 2012 London Olympics.
Additionally, James won silver at the 2016 Rio Olympics and bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He, therefore, became the first athlete to attain the full set of three medals in the centennial annals of the Olympics.
According to Olympics.com, “In the space of about a year, Shafiqua Maloney has risen from desperate lows to becoming the first Vincentian athlete to reach the final stage at an Olympic event in Paris 2024.
“On Monday [August 5] at the Stade de France, the middle-distance runner from St Vincent and the Grenadines barely missed out on a podium finish in the women’s 800m final,” it added.
Maloney, 25, placed fourth in the final and holds the 800m national record in both indoors and outdoors for St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“All enhanced their nation’s stature and inspired the youth of the Caribbean,” Hall told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on Sunday.
“Many nominated US Vice-President Kamala Harris, Olympic gold and silver medalist Julien Alfred, Machel Montano and Beres Hammond. Others suggested persons in their community.”
Hall said Everybody’s also saluted the 2024 Jamaican Olympians.
“They brought home six medals – one gold, three silvers and two bronzes,” he noted, stating that previous Everybody’s Person of the Year who are Jamaicans include Usain Bolt (2008 and 2016); Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (2019) and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph (2023), who was born in the US to a Jamaican immigrant.
Hall noted that Everybody’s Person of the Year included Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Grenada’s Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell.
“Most of this magazine’s readers today are first- and second-generation Caribbean Americans,” he said. “They were born and raised in America; therefore, their nominations are not necessarily someone born and raised in the region.”
Beginning in September every year, Hall said Everybody’s invites its readers to suggest someone or an event for Person of the Year.
“There was a year when two hurricanes were our phenomenon of the year,” he said. “Remember, we have been announcing a Person of the Year since 1978. At that time, it was called Man of the Year and Woman of the Year