By Neto Baptiste
Often times, many athletes are placed in a position where they are forced to make tough and even split-second decisions, but for national kite-surfer, Tiger Tyson, the decision to put his pursuit of a university degree in business on hold was much easier than letting go of his dream to represent Antigua and Barbuda at the 2024 Olympic Games in France.
Speaking recently on the Good Morning Jojo sports show, Tyson revealed that he dropped out of university last year to give himself more time to concentrate on making the cut for the July 26 to August 11 games in Paris.
“I tried to start business school in university last year, and I decided that it wasn’t for me. I wanted to focus on my Olympic campaign, so I actually stopped my university studies, but now I am doing an online course. To be honest, right now my focus is on the kiting, competing and all that,” he said.
“They [my parents] are happy, and they are saying that I can study and do all of that whenever, whereas, I can’t be doing this my whole life, so I should take advantage of that,” he added.
Tyson, who represented Antigua and Barbuda at this year’s CAC Sea and Beach Games held in Santa Marta, Columbia over the weekend, said he will focus more on Olympic qualifiers in 2023.
“I’ll probably only do around six to 10 competitions next year, so I’ll do like the Olympic qualifier, the worlds, the big continentals like the Pan American Championships, so next year my main focus is just to spend as much time as possible training with my coach, going to the gym, getting as strong as possible and keeping my equipment in good shape,” the athlete said.
Tyson is currently ranked 14th in the world following a second place finish in the Copa Brazil De Vela 2022 or the Brazil Sailing Cup, earlier this month.
The Paris 2024 surfing competition will not take place in France, but in Tahiti, a French Polynesian island located in the Pacific Ocean with the tournament taking place between 27 and 29 July, 2024. A total of 48 surfers will compete in Paris.