Eleven medals, five silver and six bronze in the most competitive of all sports disciplines is no mean feat! With the GSSE of Monaco behind us we can now reflect on what we have achieved and where we could have done better.

The results that our athletes (in athletics) had produced in the previous three editions of the GSSE Games must have raised the expectations of us all and perhaps we all expected better results.

Our athletes did produce some great performances but only those who take the trouble of analyzing and comparing results with those of previous editions will realize how higher this year’s standard was compared with that of the results produced in Andorra.

I would start by singling out the two Silver Medals in the sprints won by Darren Gilford (10.69secs) and Charlene Attard (11.97secs - an improvement of 0.30secs on her time in Andorra where she had placed fifth). While this year we lost the bronze in the men's 200m event, Charlene Attard managed to win the bronze in a fine time of 24.54 (25.14 secs in Andorra).

In the Women’s 400m we saw Francesa Xuereb winning the Silver in 55.72secs closely followed by Martina, her twin sister, to win the Bronze in 56.48. In Andorra, at that time only 14 years old, Martina had won the Silver in 57.89. Indeed a great improvement for both girls as well as for the standard of the event itself.

Nicolai Portelli successfully defended his Bronze in the 400m when he placed third in 48.72 (48.66secs in Andorra). We had a second runner in this event, newcomer Mario Debono who placed 7th but registered a relatively good time of 50.07secs.

Only an hour and a half before the 400m event, Mario Debono brought the Maltese spectators at the Louis II Stadium to their feet when he challenged the Kenyan runner David Karonie for the third place in the 800m where Debono closed a ten metre gap in the last stretch towards the finish failing only half a metre from finishing line. Debono’s time of 1:53.32 was not only a Personal Best for him, but an improvement of a full three seconds on his previous best time.

Another great performance which unfortunately did not win the Maltese team any medals was that by Jean Paul Callus in the Javelin Throw. His best throw of 63.89m was almost 3 metres better than his own National Record: yet he placed fifth. In Andorra his best throw of 58.12m had won him the bronze.

Rachid Chouhal, who for personal reasons started his training later than usual, only managed to win the Bronze in the Long jump with a jump of 7.26m. The gold was won by Mikhalkevitch (Luxembourg) with a jump of 7.43m. In Andorra Rachid cleared 7.61m and only managed to win the Silver.

Those who refer to statistics will point out that in athletics we lost two prime medals when in Andorra we won Gold in the 10,000 women and the 4 x 100m men.

It was only a few days prior to our departure for Monaco that we learned that Carol Walsh had a back injury and that she needed pain killers to participate. She was also doubtful for the 10,000m event. Carol braved all odds and tried her very best. She lost the gold medal but at least she finished her race and managed to win the bronze.

One must also remember that in athletics age is also a very important factor irrespective of how brave and determined an athlete is.

Another athlete who did not even make the trip as she was still recovering from an injury was Rebecca Camilleri, who in Andorra won the silver in the Long Jump and Bronze in the Triple jump.

In the 4 x 100m Men’s Relay our team made up of Nicolai Portelli, Rachid Chouhal, Mario Bonello and Darren Gilford won the Silver in 41.08 (only 0.39 of a second slower than the winners).

The team definitely missed the participation of Jeandre Mallia, a very valid sprinter who, for personal reasons, had declined to train and run with the relay team. This I strongly believe was where we lost the second Gold medal.

In the women’s 4 x 100m relay our team (Lara Scerri, Therese Mallia, Charlene Attard and Diane Borg) again won the Silver in a time of 46.65seconds, which is 0.56 seconds faster then their time in Andorra).

In the 4 x 400m Relay the team composed of Diane Borg, Charlene Attrad, Martina Xuereb and Francesa Xuereb was a strong team. Few people expected the great improvement of the Cypriot and Iceland team in this event. The local team managed to win the bronze in 3:47.92.

In Andorra this event was won by Cyprus in a time of 3:49.15 while the Malta team had registered a new record of 3:50.29. In Monaco our team improved their time by 2.37 seconds. But the winner’s time of 3:45.17 was indeed beyond the reach of our athletes.

The association looks with satisfaction to the future of our sport knowing that it has a good crop of upcoming youngsters some of whom are on the threshold of international competition.

Others are trying out events like the Hurdles, High Jump and Hammer, events that we never competed in. The association is looking at ways and means of getting middle and long distance runners, the majority of whom prefer Road Running events, interested in trying the 3,000m Steeple chase and the 10,000m and 5,000m on the track. We need to raise the standard of these events to be able to compete with a full team not only in the GSSE but also in the European Cup.

Indeed with careful planning and the right and necessary support, the future is considered bright and promising.