Was this year’s Island Games really a success for Gibraltar?

It has been said many times by many different people that this year's Island Games was a resounding success, but was it a success as regards the sporting side of things?

Gibraltar won 3 Golds, 9 Silvers and 6 Bronzes; 18 medals solely in Shooting, an incredible amount for just one sport, great! Our Tennis team certainly made us proud also by winning 3 Gold Medals and our Athletics team won 4 medals, two of those medals were Gold. Both our Judo and Squash teams won a Bronze medal and our Male & Female Basketball teams won a Bronze medal.

Of course, we are very proud of our teams for trying their hardest, but was the Island Games such an incredible feat? Were we not lacking in most sports we competed in? So, what are we going to do about it, because all our sportsmen would like to do better.

They say that comparison is the killer of joy, yet compared to the other teams that had participated, we had so little medals, especially for the 8 other sports that Gibraltar had participated in.

In Gotland’s 2017 Island Games, our Shooting Team won 17 medals out of 26 and in Jersey’s 2015 Island Games, our Shooting team won 9 of the 17 medals won. Gibraltar’s shooting team is incredible, always picking up the majority of the medals won! Jersey’s swimming team alone had won 28 medals, nearly the same amount of medals we were awarded across 5 sports!

So, is there not a case to try and improve our sports in general so that, next time round, we can achieve more in the field of sport?

What does the Minister for Sport intend to do about it?

25-07-19 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR