4 x 100m Relay: Mario Bonello, Rachid Chouhal, Darren Gilford, Nicolai Portelli
Hoping to retain the Gold medal of Andorra 2005 and match the national record set at 40.63s, the relay team members were hoping to repeat this success and not let the Cypriots get the Gold.
This was not meant to be, and the team had to make do with the Silver medal which was still a good result.
They now look forward to trying for the gold medal another time.
4 x 100m Relay: Charlene Attard, Diane Borg, Therese Mallia, Lara Scerri
Having taken the Silver medal at the Andorra Games of 2005, the 4x100m relay team were hoping to fulfill their dream of taking the Gold from the Cypriot ladies at the Monaco Games 2007. The 4x100m team found themselves in a position of déjà vu, reclaiming their well deserved silver medal with their hopes for the gold being set on the next games in Cyprus 2009, which will be no mean feat being on the favourites home ground.
Charlene Attard
2007 was a milestone for this young athlete; she won four medals at the Games of the Small States of Europe. She won Silver in the 100m, Bronze in the 200m and formed part of the 4x100m and 4x400m winning another silver and bronze medal respectively. This year, Charlene also broke the 100m record and finally managed to break the 12 second barrier setting the national record at 11.93s. She also holds the 60m outdoors record at 7.66s which she broke 3 times in as many consecutive weeks during February 2007. Also during this season she broke the 200m outdoors record, setting it at 24.52s. In addition to this Charlene holds the 200m record indoors at 25.54sec. During this season she also improved her 400m time to 55.98. In 2007 Charlene took part in the European Indoor Championships, European Under 23 Championships, European Cup second league and also World championships which where held in Osaka. Charlene is a member of Athleta Pembroke Club, and is coached by Mr Leandros Calleja. She has been involved in athletics since 1995. Charlene is 20 yrs old and is a university student reading for a degree in BSC (Business & Computing).
Darren Gilford
Darren Gilford once again made his mark at the Games of the Small States of Europe, this time at the Monaco Games. Back in 2001 at the Andorra Games he managed a Bronze medal in the 100m, and this time, managed to win Malta’s first Silver medal in the 100m with less than 0.03 of a second away from the Gold. Darren still holds the national records for the 60m at 6.76s and the 100m at 10.54s, and formed part of the relay team in the 4x100m which set a national record in 2005 at 40.63s. He also formed part of the 4x100m relay at these same games which won the Silver medal. In 2007 Darren took part in the European Indoor Games in Birmingham and the World Championships in Osaka Japan. Darren is a member of Athleta Pembroke and has been involved in athletics since 1996. Darren is 24 yrs old and is an ICT System Administrator.
Nicolai Portelli
Nicolai holds the 400m national record at 48.14s. He is unbeaten locally in the 400m and has won 7 medals in three editions of the GSSE since Malta 2003. He won silver in 2003 in the 400m and at the GSSE Monaco 2007 he won the Bronze medal which he also claimed at the Andorra 2005 Games. He also formed part of the silver medallist relay 4x100m team in Monaco, and in addition he formed part of the 4x400m relay team at these same games. In 2007 Nicolai also took part in the European Cup League 2 B finishing 4th overall in the 400m. Nicolai is a member of AS Libertas, and has been involved in athletics since 1994. Nicolai is 25yrs old and is an Account Executive with one of Malta’s leading printing presses.
More profiles will be carried next week
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Friday, 14 December on E22 at 9pm , Sunday, 16 December on E22 at 10am (RPT) and on TVM at 525pm, and Monday, 17 December on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT) will feature the following:
Featured Event – Netball
The Netball league is just over a month old and people are starting to take an interest. A total of six teams are taking part in the First Division, though the Association also organizes the Second and Under 21 Leagues. Last Sunday morning three matches were played from the First Division namely Fuego – All Ages Eurochange, Sun Dreams Travel NRG – New Ages Stars and Kerygma – Kerygma Strikers.
To get to know more about what happened follow MIA Olympic Magazine.
Highlighted Event – MCAST Sportsfest / Hockey
On Sunday 2 December The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Sports Department and Kunsill Nazzjonali Zaghzagh came together and organized a sports festival at the Marsa Sports Grounds. A number of sport associations were roped into the organization of this event, in order to make it one of the biggest sport festivals ever staged on our island. This festival was aimed at youths aged between 15-35 years. The events took place at the Marsa Track and at the rugby and baseball grounds whilst the talks, sport demonstrations and karting were held in the car park near the netball/basketball courts.
Two matches were played during last weekend by the National Hockey League. At the Kordin Ground, Rabat crosses swords with Qormi, while the other match features White Hart against Sliema. The cameras of MIA Olympic Magazine were there to report what’s going on this season.
MOC Section
The MOC- MIA shooting event was held on Saturday 1 December at Bidnija. MOC Directors and elite athletes were present and tried their hand at this sport. An interesting feature which was worth watching. The agreement between MOC and MIA consisted of a number of initiatives; one of them being the shooting event held over the past weekend.
Olympic Archive Section
In this interesting Section, MIA Olympic Special takes us down memory lane and relives the interesting moments of the previous Olympic Games as a build up for the Beijing 2008 Games.
Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org and on the Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday. Produced in collaboration with E22.