Athletes: Bring it on!

With just a day left before the opening ceremony of the 2013 Island Games, anticipation is building as hundreds of athletes from around the world descend on Bermuda.

Competitors from Aland (near Finland), Greenland, St Helena (South Atlantic) and the Shetland Islands, to name just a few, have made huge personal sacrifices to ensure they represent their island at the first Games ever to be held outside of Europe.

The Bermuda Sun visited Cedarbridge Academy, a temporary home to scores of these international athletes for the next week and got a flavour of how some of them are feeling ahead of the eagerly-awaited competition. 

Fionn Webb (left)

• Orkney Islands

• Age: 16

• Swimmer — in 50m breaststroke, 100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 50m freestyle, 50m fly

• “This is my first time in Bermuda and I’m enjoying it so far. I think I’ll do fine, I’m pretty confident I can get personal bests.”

Sakiu Lundblad (centre)

• Greenland

• Age: 28

• Football

• ‘Bermuda is really nice, really excited to be here.

”I hope we win.  It’s very exciting to be here playing in the stadium and I hope we get a good turnout.”

Edward Gumbley (right)

• Isle of Man

• Age: 37

• Half-Marathon, fourth Island Games. Won team silver last time out.

• “Obviously the heat is going to be a major factor, so I think the times are going to be quite slow. I think it’s whoever can cope with the conditions the most.”