The difference in standards obtainable at the Games for the European Small States (GSSE) and that at the Mediterranean Games was confirmed in the past few days in Almeria, Spain.
After the successes and euphoria which followed the Games for European Small States in Andorra, one expected with a lot of anxiety to see whether we would be able to see a Maltese athlete, not just making it to the podium, but also taking gold.
The Malta Olympic Committee was right before the Games in instilling confidence in the athletes representing Malta in Almeria. Then, I remember that Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, the MOC president, had also said he hoped to hear the Maltese national anthem being played and the Maltese flag being hoisted in the Spain Games, that is for the first time ever in a big event.
But it was not to be. In actual fact, he could only see the hoisting of the Maltese flag, though not the anthem, as our promising young shooter William Chetcuti won the bronze medal in the Double Trap event.
It is well to note that even in the case of Chetcuti, a better result than that which landed him the gold medal in Andorra four weeks earlier, was not enough to give him more than a bronze medal in the Mediterranean Games, though it is evident from the results in Almeria that he was close, at least to the silver medal.
Chetcuti is still very young and I am sure that he will make Malta proud one day in the not too distant future. All he needs at present is full support from all quarters and maximum attention from the powers that be. Chetcuti has the potential to line-up against the top shooters in his discipline and knowing his character, it is obvious that he can provide all local sports enthusiasts with much more satisfactions in future.
With all due respect to most of the other athletes who represented Malta in Almeria, their results continued to confirm the difference in standards which exists between The Small Nations Games and the Mediterranean Games. Let me be straightforward: all of us knew of this factor, and we even made the public aware that it would be wrong to expect any miracles from our athletes.
But coming so soon after the Andorra euphoria, the Almeria Games were a sort of anticlimax where the results provided the Maltese sporting public with disappointment.
For example, I felt sorry for Chetcuti's colleague Emmanuel Grima. In Almeria, he had a disastrous result, well away from his result at Andorra which brought him a silver medal. I cannot say what went wrong but I am sure that Grima is capable of doing much better.
In the case of Angela Galea, it was also noted that despite lowering her best time by two seconds in the 200m butterfly, it was not enough to enable her to finish close to the winning trio.
These were other results which confirm my belief that the GSSE is one thing and the Mediterranean Games, Commonwealth Games and Olympics, are another.
However, I must congratulate golfer Andrew Borg who did well to win one of the four rounds, even if that did not help him achieve his and Pippo Psaila's goal of getting on the podium. That was also a positive result of which we would like to see much more in games of such levels.
And I must also congratulate the Malta Olympic Committee president, Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco, who was elected for the first time to sit on the executive committee of the Mediterranean Games Organising Committee during its annual meeting.
It is an important appointment for Maltese sport and an honour bestowed on the MOC president who will now also have a say in future proceedings in connection with the Mediterranean Games.
On Wednesday, during the post-Games press conference, Chef de Mission Pippo Psaila reiterated that the Malta Olympic Committee will have to be more selective in future. Of course, I cannot but agree with him and the Malta Olympic Committee.
Such reasoning will certainly lead to better use of public funds made available by the Maltese government through the Maltese Council for Sport.
Of course, our main focus will have to remain on the Games for European Small States where our athletes can compete on a par (in some cases) with the other contestants. But athletes earmarked for participation in the Mediterranean Games, Commonwealth Games or the Olympics will be needed to upgrade their standards considerably.
As has been noticed in the past few weeks, gold medal winners in Andorra did not mean that these were to be successful also in Almeria. Far from it. This is perhaps the main lesson to be taken in view of next year's Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia.
Henry Brincat
Sports Editor
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