 While we're turning our attention now specifically to the ongoing discussions sparked by the discretionary nature of how the Austencelia award winners are determined, in the 2023 decision to award Jamaica's Rashawn Clarke, the accolade came as a surprise to many. Clarke won the under-20 boys 400m hurdles in 49.92 seconds outside Jehu Gordon's 2010 record of 49.76. And there has been a raging debate about this year's decision, which saw Trinidad and Tobago's long jump under-20 girls' record breaker, Jeneda Kans, being named Austencelia award winner. Well, let's start now by reminding you of the reasons given for her selection. Keyser Joseph is CEO of the North America Central America and Caribbean NACAC Athletics Council. Let's hear from him. A team of distinguished officials were asked over the three days of competition to judge the single most outstanding performance, the single most outstanding performance. In these games, there were 10 athletes who were considered and they were all record breakers in this competition. But at the end of the day, the team of three, a judge, a young lady who in her competition turned in a performance that ranks her currently third in the world in the under-20 category for her event and a qualifier for the World Junior Championships that will take place in Lima, Peru, later this year. The performance took place in the long jump in the girls under-20 division. With a leap of 6.50 meters, ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the Austencelia award for the most outstanding performance by an athlete in the Games, Carrefter Games 2024, hails from Trinidad and Tobago. All right, so Ricardo and Lance, the question now based on what I would have outlined before, is it time to have a set criteria to determine the Austencelia award winner so that there isn't so many other options that people are talking about? You know what, I have so much to say on this. Before I even begin though, I want to make it clear that what I am about to say is not a suggestion in any way, shape, or form that Jeneda Ganz of Trinidad and Tobago is not a deserving winner of the Austencelia award. But what I want to do is to point out inconsistencies in how the winner has been determined over time, and definitely in my time covering the Carrefter Games which is over the last 13 or 14 years. Now I'm going to utilize specifically what Keith Joseph pointed to as the reasons Jeneda Ganz was named Austencelia award winner for 2024. Now the first thing he said which jumped out at me and I found rather inconsistent with what has been done in the past is to say that the Austencelia award goes to the single most outstanding performance. Now understand that the single most outstanding performance is separate from the single most outstanding performer. And here's who I'm going to make the distinction. In 2015 Lance and Mariah that was the second Carrefter Games that I covered as a journalist. The first one was 2011 in Montego Bay. Mariah Fraser of Barbados was named Austencelia award winner. Now I remember at the 2015 event being asked for my opinion as to who I felt should win the Austencelia award. Now Mariah Fraser won three gold medals 800 1500 meters under 17 and she won the 3001. I felt at the time that she should not have been given the Austencelia award because no single performance of hers was of the quality and the level that I thought should be adjoined to the Austencelia award and so that's how I felt about it at that time. But she won the award on the basis that she was a triple gold medalist and even though no one performance was better than any other one performance or stood out significantly more than any one performance the fact that she had those three gold medals. I think she was pretty young at the time and she was also quite young. She was still an under 17 athlete and she had also won the open event. Yes so to have won the open event that would have given her some credit as well. But I think you're sticking to the definition right. Yes but I'm sticking to the point that Keith Joseph made that it is supposed to be the most outstanding performance single performance single performance and I even with her age lens I don't think any single performance that she laid down in St. Kitts and Nevis was the best performance of the 2015 Carrifta Games. So I had an issue with that then but I left with the impression that there was consideration not just for one single performance but there could be consideration based on the body of work. So that's the first thing that jumped out at me with Keith Joseph. So you saw the definition now was overall performance. Yes so second thing that jumped out at me was when Keith Joseph said that the Austin Sealy Award this year there were 10 individuals considered and they were all record breakers and I thought to myself strange why are we only considering record breakers. Last year the winner was Roshan Clark out of Jamaica. He did not break a record but the understanding is that if your performance is of a significantly high quality whether it is a record or not it should be considered. So I am not here to say mind you by the way let me just take clearly that my pick for Austin Sealy was Michelle Smith of the US Virgin Islands who was clearly not considered because she didn't break a record. There you go. Michelle Smith won the 400 hurdles on the 20 girls and she won the 800 on the 20 girls but she missed both records very very closely. Okay but the suggestion here is that she was not considered for the Austin Sealy Award. I have an issue with that and let me show you guys why I have an issue with that. I have a graphic prepared. So World Athletics the governing body for track and field they assign points to every single performance in the sport across all the events. Now I want to look specifically at just the on the 20 performances which includes Genet de Ganz and some of the other outstanding performances from Carrifta and I want to show the public how World Athletics feels about the performances not me Ricardo Chambers but the governing body for track and field. So let's have a look at that graphic just to show you. So based on World Athletics the single most outstanding performance at the Carrifta Games was the 10.15 done by Devonte Howell of the Cayman Islands that scores him 1,155 points. What the adjudicators of the 2024 Austin Sealy Award are telling me is that because Devonte Howell did not break Johann Blake's amazing record of 10.11 is that he was not considered Sabrina Dockry girls 100 winner 1126 1144 points not considered again because that's not a record by the way Carrifta still has Aileen Bailey and Tamika Clark at 1103 highly controversial record from 1998 which I don't think is the record but that's a whole different discussion. Michelle Smith comes in third at that list with her 56-28, Tiana Springer the 400 winner from Guyana fourth on that list, Genet de Ganz based on how World Athletics sees the individual performances is fifth on that list with 1108 points, sixth on that list, Gerichar 200 in fourth position. Part of the reason I felt that Michelle Smith should have been the Austin Sealy Award winner for 2024, note that that single performance that she has 56-28, 1133 points no but given that I had the experience of 2015 where a group of performances was used to determine the winner in that year I thought to myself well Michelle Smith winning the 800 in 206-18 and the 400 herders in 56-28 and you can see how World Athletics ranks that 56-28 I thought to myself the combination of her two performances was deserving of the Austin Sealy Award clearly that was not the case but even if you say that no she is not the one because 56-28 is not strong enough then why is that 10-1-5 the Austin Sealy Award winner given the incredible nature of 10-1-5 I don't think we understand how impressive 10-1-5 is in the scheme of world junior sprinting and a young man who by the way defended his his career under 20 title and led a one-two for his country and led a one-two for his unprecedented so they were unprecedented things about his performance as well I felt it would have been a no contest if Howell had won the 100-200 double or Sabrina Dockry had won the 100-200 double that didn't happen and I don't want to take anything away from young Janette again because I thought her performance was quite special as well outstanding performance 6.5-0 meters it is a Carrifter Games record but I wasn't convinced or well let me not say I wasn't convinced but I am still concerned about how inconsistent the decision making is and how you can be saying to me last year that you don't have to break a record or 2015 that you can use a group of performances but in 2024 I'm hearing something different and that is what is concerning for me about how the winner of the Austin Sealy Award is chosen yeah and when we heard the explanation coming from Keith Joseph and he was specific in pointing out that it was the single it was deemed the single most impressive performance yes and I'm not sure in all my years of covering Carrifter Games that that has been the criteria and as you as you correctly pointed out I have seen situations where a group of performances by an individual athlete may be deemed as superior to anything else that we had seen like even that mere phrase a year when she won was that a year there were no records at the Carrifter Games? No it wasn't it was not so you had records there you had records and you had outstanding individual performances that I certainly felt at the time because I was in St. Kitts and Nevis and I remember deliberating with a lot of the journalists as to why I didn't feel that it was to go to mere rephrase us so it's not that they were not outstanding performances at that Carrifter Games. Deja Hodge's record performances last year didn't include records no they didn't and she won in 2022 and she won in 2022 yeah and I thought and I thought Adeja Hodge was a clear winner yet she didn't break a record but she'd won the hundred she'd won the 200 she'd done the long jump and it wasn't that she won these events but the manner in which she did it as well commanding commanding and moving from semifinal action in moving from the long jump final to semifinal action in the 200 and then going back and winning the long jump on her final effort it was spectacular there was something electric about it and so I felt in no uncertain terms that that was deserving of the Austin Celia award but there were no records but you too then were looking at her overall performances Adeja Hodge when you think about it because I had the experience from 2015 and by 2022 I had come to an understanding at least I thought that it was okay to discuss the Austin Celia award winner in that way an athlete who had put together an outstanding group of performances which Michelle Smith did which Michelle Smith but this is like the Ballon d'Or and this is like and that's why I felt in that moment that yes Michelle Smith is my Austin Celia award winner for 2024 the other thing Keith Joseph pointed out correctly that the performance by Janae 6.50 landed her number three in the under 20 top list at the rankings list at the moment Michelle Smith's 400 meter hurdles number three ranked her number three yes so and there were other athletes on the list that I showed you who were top three in the world at the time as well and in fact I actually think Lance and Mariah that that is not the best way to do it I think maybe one of the other ways is to look at the the world list for under 20s and under 18s or under 17s given that this category is under 17 in the previous year or over a number of years I think there has to be some greater historical significance to the achievement than just saying she is number three in the world right now because part of the issue with number three in the world right now is that a lot of countries with this age group you 20s you 17s they are not at the peak of their season yet some of them are just coming from indoors they have not even started competing outdoors yet and so it is an unfair comparison to what is going to happen in the event in 2024 which is the season the season is not january to carifter yes the season goes up in the case of this year all the way to early september when the world under 20 championship ends in in lima peru so I find that that is not the best way of assessing it so I also had an issue with saying oh she was number three in the world because she's not the only one yeah the the the key point that we have to make here though is that I think there were more candidates for the austin cilia ward this year than I've seen many many years prior because there were really really outstanding performances and I agree with the point that you made earlier on ricardo that jane de gans's performance was solid enough to be an austin cilia ward winner because you know it was it was outstanding yes and dominant and and a record and world class yes but the consistency of of how these awards are chosen and maybe it's who you like at the end of the career it can't be and that's the point I'm making it shouldn't be and that's the impression that I am starting to get that maybe whichever panel sits down it's all about who you like and I think we have to be careful not to get there I thought this davante whole performance was sensational lance yes he ran 10-1-5 but look at this he is shutting down beating his chest arms out wide three or four meters from the line I suspect had he ran through he probably would have broken yoan blake's record or gotten significantly closer but 10-1-5 is a special performance although it is not a record but it is not a record because the record is already so outstanding and so world class so I think when you when you judge it this way you are putting the the the the sprinters because that's where the Caribbean traditionally is great at a disadvantage because they are chasing significantly better records than a jumper or a thrower who are chasing records that are well within world standard and so yeah that that was just among the the issues I had no they're still even with everything that I've said when you get down to a set criteria you're still going to have to figure out how to weigh under 17 performances versus under 20 performances because the under 17s are not going to run as fast as the under 20 so what criteria do you put in place to ensure that they have a fair chance of winning the austin cilia award as well so the criteria will have to take that into account but I think the individuals across the region who know um with naka who governs the carifter games need to have a sit down and say let us see if we can put something together as a workable criteria that will make it um easier in in in in a or fairer may be in adjudicated and understandable yes and because at the moment it is it it's questionable but you know one of the things they would say though is presiding over these decisions is that you can't please everybody and that you know but at least with with your criteria check for example the while I think that criteria requires some level of adjusting and improvement the jamaican national sportsman and sportswoman of the year awards part of the thing with that you can tell who the winner is going to be because the criteria is so specific so specific and so well defined well defined okay and I am not even saying that the the austin cilia award winner or the criteria for the austin cilia award winner needs to be that defined but I think there needs to be some clearer guidelines as to what constitutes um the austin cilia award winner what leads to determining the austin cilia award well team if it's up to us we could sit here for the next how many minutes we have left and talk about this but we have a lot more in store so we're going to take a break and then we come back we have another topic to talk about