The Maltese contingent that took part in the 18th edition of the games of the Small States of Europe in Montenegro, returned back yesterday afternoon to a warm welcome from friends and relatives of the athletes.
The Maltese won 27 medals in all in Montenegro, two less than two years ago in San Marino, but the total number of gold medals won was six compared to the four won two years ago.
The six gold medals were in athletics, two by Jordan Gusman and two by Lisa Marie Bezzina, with the others coming from our flag bearer Gianluca Chetcuti in the shooting Double Trap competition, and from Eleanor Bezzina in the air-pistol from 10m.
The next edition of the GSSE will be held in two years-time in Andorra, with the 20th edition being held in Malta in 2023.
This was Montenegro's first organisation of such an event, and the motto selected was "How Big We Are". They certainly tried to show how big they are but in many aspects they failed miserably.
Apart from the Basketball and swimming venues which had all the facilities for spectators and media, the rest were surely not up to standard. The facilities for media at the field and track events were pre-World War II standard, not to mention that the track was finished on the day reserved for training, just 24 hours before the start of the events.
The 5,000m saga of Lisa Marie Bezzina caps it all, confirming the total chaos in which the first day events were held. Things improved on the second and third day, but surely much more was expected from the organisers.
The lack of facilities for media was a constant in all venues, apart from Basketball and Swimming, a thing unheard of in 2019.
The inclement weather did not help either, with the tennis tournaments squeezed in two days, with players forced to play at short intervals. The idea of an athlete's village was an excellent one. But here again the choice of the venue leaves much to be desired.
The athlete's village was part of a tourist resort complex in the heart of the city of Budva, with the main press centre in a large room near the outdoor pool. The tennis courts and the make-shift Beach Volley sand pit are in fact facilities of the resort.
Other things worked rather smoothly, like the shuttle service from the athlete's village to the venues. But here again there were very long distances to cover, with more than an hour's drive to reach the Basketball, Swimming, Athletics, Judo and Table-Tennis centres. This proved to be very inconvenient especially to athletes.