Email

Print

Belize's only athlete to participate in the Paris Olympics returned home today after being away for three weeks representing the country. It's been quite the journey for 31 year old sprinter Shaun Gill, who placed sixth in his heat. We met him at the airport this morning and he recounted for us his once in a lifetime experience as both athlete and flag bearer. He says he is happy to be home.

Shaun Gill, Belizean Olympian
"I really felt like you know like I had Belize on my back you know when I gave the story a couple days ago to one of my friends over there when we were doing the opening ceremony and we were going on the boats I felt normal like just getting on the boat, you know it is a procession you have to go through a protocol and everything. But as soon as we had a guide on the board and the guide tells you when it is your turn to be on TV and as soon as the guide says Belize it's your turn. It is just an overwhelming feeling of you know passion and just joy and that's why I started waving the flag. That's the thing that went viral on social media just me waving the flag and I think also it's because nobody else on the boats were really waving their flags Percy, and I kind of found out later on that is kind of a protocol for certain countries to kind of stand still stand stiff and you know have that type of stand with the flag I guess it's for some sort of respect or something, but for me, I felt joy and passion so I just started waving so that's how that went."

But this isn't Gill's first Olympics, in 2020 he competed in the preliminary rounds, 100 meter games in Tokyo running at 10.88 seconds. He spoke more about his experience in Paris this year.

Shaun Gill, Belizean Olympian
"The experience was good part of the reason why the performance was kind of low also was because of the adjustment. It was extremely extremely hard to adjust. I mean, even before the race I was already in France probably maybe a week and a half closer to two weeks and still could not, adjust to the sleep schedule. It was completely off. But I mean the performance it is what it is. I've run many big races before. And it's sports you know not every single time you touch the track you will get the performance where you think you are capable of you know that's just how it is."

So what's next for Gill now that he's back? He announced his retirement at the games, but he says there are still other things he wants to get done before he hangs up his running shoes for good.

Shaun Gill, Belizean Olympian
"This is a part of the farewell tour for me as I mentioned to sports max. I probably have maybe one more race and that's probably I'm not even sure when it is but it's something that I already told the federation here that I am committed to which is being a part of a relay team, I want to finish that before I really hang up the shoes but aside from that I graduated as an engineer just back in May so I'm trying to start that professional career you know because I only have the theory side of the engineering now I need to get out into the real world and experience the practical side. So that's kind of where I am headed and also to, I definitely want to give back to track and field and man I have an enormous amount of experience and knowledge when it comes to this sport so I'm pretty sure I'm the near future you guys will see me as the Belize national head coach for track and field."