By Neto Baptiste
National kite-board athlete, Tiger Tyson, has set his eyes on representing Antigua and Barbuda at the 2024 Olympic Games set for France from July 26 to August 11 that year.
The 19-year-old athlete, who is currently based in France where he is attending university, has however signaled that he would not be able to attain this goal on his own, and has called on corporate Antigua to support his bid through sponsorship.
“I have actually [started] my own website which you can find at www.tigerkiting.com, and there you can find my story, my achievement, and also my future ambitions; so all that I aim to do is to pretty much find as many sponsors as possible or companies that would like to help me along my journey to the Olympics,” he said.
“On my website, I actually have a section for sponsors where they can see how they can help me, and also how I could help them in return, and right now I am definitely looking for some sponsors to help me with travel and coaching. I just got a new coach who I am really happy with, and also just equipment and all the other expenses,” he added.
Tyson recently captured a bronze medal in the French National Championships. Competing in the senior men’s category, the Antiguan amassed a total of 74 points as he finished behind French kite-boarders Maxime Nocher and Benoit Gomez, who were first and second respectively.
He believes that having the opportunity to live and train in France improves his chances of qualifying for the Olympics.
“The 2024 Olympics happens to be in France and the kiting venue at the Olympics will be in Marseille, and that’s where I am going to university, very close by, and so I’d be able to train right on the Olympic spot and my coach also lives very close by to the location, so it couldn’t be better really. To qualify for the Olympics, I would have to beat everyone in the North American continent and that would include all of the Caribbean, the United States and Canada basically,” Tyson said.
The athlete will now turn his attention to the European Championships slated for September 6.