Champion Sprinter – Kim Collins
Basseterre, St.Kitts – Nevis
April 09, 2015
The St. Kitts – Nevis Government is continuing to fulfill their commitments with yet another clear show of keeping and fulfilling promises made.
On Monday March 30th the Team UNITY Administration Cabinet took the decision to re-name the Silver Jubilee Stadium at Bird Rock in honor of Sprint Legend and Hero Kim Collins.
At the Opening Ceremony of the 44th CARIFTA Games Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. Shawn K. Richards made the official announcement regarding the renaming .
The renaming ceremony took place oN Sunday April 5th which incidentally was Kim Collins 39th Birthday. Oh what a birthday honor he got.
Hundreds came to the games early and packed the stands to witness the historic ceremony which took place an hour before the start of the Afternoon session of day 3 of the games.
President of the SKNAAA Glen Jeffers addressed the audience along with Pastor Lincoln Connor who gave the invocation and Francil Morris and Val Henry who also made presentations
Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris in his address hailed Collins’ success on and off the track and declared that the 39 year old International Sprint Icon was a role model to all Kittitians and Nevisians .
Prime Minister Harris said “Off the track he runs a different race called life where he is a winner everyday as a role model for young Kittitians and Nevisians and young people around the world. His life says winning is possible in anything you do. And we know that in the race called life the race is not given to the swift but to those that endure to the end!”
In response Kim Collins challenged the CARIFTA athletes to do better than he has done .
Collins won his first regional medal at the 24th CARIFTA Games in Georgetown, Guyana where he placed 3rd. The very next year in 1996 he made his Olympic debut with a quarter-finals berth. By his second appearance at the Olympics in 2000 he made it to the finals and the rest is history.
He is currently the world’s number 1 60m sprinter in the world.
His career is widely regarded as one of the most successful and enduring track and field careers of all times.