The women’s basketball national team produced a stirring display in San Marino last week. Photo: Christine BorgThe women’s basketball national team produced a stirring display in San Marino last week. Photo: Christine Borg

The 2017 Games of the Small States of Europe have come and gone and the Maltese Olympic Committee contingent returned home saying they were satisfied with the achievements in San Marino where our athletes almost matched the general showing in Iceland two years ago.

Last week, Team Malta collected four gold medals, nine silver and 16 bronze – just two medals short of the tally collected in Reykjavik in 2015.

The MOC might picture this scenario as positive but one also has to note that despite a far more favourable programme of sport than two years ago, Team Malta failed to improve on their final position in the medals standings. In fact, only Liechtenstein and Andorra have again fared worse than our selection.

Sprinter Charlotte Wingfield, shooter Gianluca Chetcuti and the women’s basketball team were our main protagonists in Serravalle, producing outstanding performances to secure gold medal in their competitions.

On the other hand, though, one cannot but mention the low-key performances of a few of our established athletes as the likes of William Chetcuti, Victoria Luchenkova, Lisa Marie Bezzina and William Vella all failed to live up to expectations at the Games.

With every GSSE completed, one common dominator in post-Games analysis always emerging is the need to have increased financial assistance to keep up with the level of the other countries.

This time, however, the Games have also exposed lack of depth in various disciplines so it’s time that our federations start injecting new blood to ensure there is no complacency among the more established contenders.

Julian Pace Bonello, the MOC president, said that while he was pleased with the overall performance in San Marino he also knows that the governing body and its various member associations have a lot of work to do to ensure our athletes reach the next edition of the Games – in Montenegro in 2019 – in a better shape.

“In general terms we are pleased to have reached our pre-set goal of matching our medal tally from Iceland two years ago,” Pace Bonello said.

Together, we have to go back to the drawing board and try to nurture new talent

“Despite having a few notable absentees in the squad, we still succeeded to secure four gold medals last week. But we know we need to do much better than that. There is lots of work to be done to ensure that we field a more competitive team in 2019.

“We also know that to reach this aim we need to inject more money into our federations. However, they must also realise that they cannot keep fielding the same athletes from one GSSE to another with very little in return in terms of results and medals.

“Personally, I hope they follow the pattern set by the swimming association. This time they introduced new faces, young swimmers who are showing a lot of promise. Together, we have to go back to the drawing board and try to nurture new talent. That way, we’ll be in a better position to produce a stronger challenge at this level.”

Track and field, in particular, exposed our frailties in the GSSE this time.

Apart from Wingfield, who won two gold medals and a silver, the other members in the team found it hard to leave their mark.

Pace Bonello said Athletics Malta will have to focus on its youth programme more intensively in future.

“Athletics was a disappointment in San Marino, that’s my personal thinking,” Pace Bonello said.

“Apart from Winfield, the other members in the team found it harder than expected to obtain better results. I think it’s time Athletics Malta starts afresh and introduce new faces in their squad in future.”

Pace Bonello said that it’s no secret that the MOC struggles to keep the pace with other GSSE countries due to lack of funds.

“Financial assistance for athletes’ preparation is never enough for us,” the MOC chief reckoned.

“It’s a reality that countries like Cyprus, Luxembourg and Iceland are operating on bigger budgets than us. This year we signed a new financial agreement with the authorities concerned that puts us in a better position to coordinate things with our member federations. These funds are crucial as without them we cannot recruit foreign coaches to assist our athletes make a leap in quality.”

Pace Bonello again insisted that in the coming months they will be meeting with member associations and urged them to give their young athletes more international exposure.

“We shall soon initiate a new programme aimed at having upcoming athletes in different sport to attend training camps and competitions abroad,” he said.

“We cannot aspire to compete strongly in competitions such as the GSSE unless the ones coming up are used to the intensity of international competition.

“In 2023 we want to host the GSSE in Malta so we will do everything we can to reach this date with a competitive team.”

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