Vincentian Olympian Shafiqua Maloney will accompany Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and the other members of the Vincentian delegation to New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week.
Gonsalves made the announcement as Maloney returned to St. Vincent this week to relax after competing in the Paris Olympics.
While the 25-year-old US-based athlete failed to medal in the women’s 800 metre, placing fourth and missing the bronze medal by .22 of a second, she created history by becoming the first Vincentian to make the finals of an Olympic event.
Speaking during a welcome ceremony at Argyle International Airport on Wednesday, Gonsalves said Maloney’s return home is a special visit.
“And of course, as usual, she come (returned to SVG), ‘Wah Ralph ah do?’” the prime minister said, , adding that this is the “street talk”.
“Everything, ‘Wey Ralph ah do?’ But I don’t have to talk everything but you know me well enough; you know I’ll be doing something. You can put your pot on your fire and you know that we’re doing something.”
Gonsalves’ government came in for strong criticism when it became public in February that Maloney was struggling to pay her bills, buy food and sustain her training programme as she prepared for the Paris games.
This came even as she had been homeless in the United States for some parts of 2023.
Gonsalves said he travels to New York on Saturday, one day before his programme at the UNGA begins.
He said Maloney is spending some days with her mother, Jessica Maloney, whom she had not seen for eight years.
“… on Wednesday, she’s going back to New York, and I’m hoping, I make arrangements with our ambassador in New York already, Ambassador King, and she has been in touch with you, making all the arrangements, meet a number of persons, and when I deliver my speech, when I go to my Olympic games — every year I go there — I want you to be sitting down with the Vincentian delegation.”
Gonsalves said he returns to St. Vincent on Sept. 27 on the same flight as Maloney, adding, “I hope they don’t put you in one class and put me in another class.”
He said Maloney would travel again before returning to St. Vincent on Oct. 9.
“… because that is when we had originally planned, the Ministry of Tourism is going to be involved. I’m glad that the Ministry of Tourism is not going to do anything to you when you come back on Saturday the 28th because the cynics will say we’re celebrating you on your second coming. So we’ll celebrate you forward on your third coming.
“I am very proud of you and I love you very much,” Gonsalves told the athlete.
“You are a tribute to our civilisation, and those who know more about the athletics business will help to guide you. I will watch on with common sense. But what I want to see is that you soar like an eagle in the race of life … because after athletics, there’s always life.”
The prime minister said he was sorry that there had been “some negligence or even failure.
“I can’t apologise on behalf of anybody who involved in athletics or any sporting thing or any coach. I can’t apologise on behalf of anybody.
“I could only apologise on behalf of the government and people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But I reiterate, and it’s in the middle of the Bible, I’m told, the 122nd Psalm, the stone that the builder rejected has become and is the head cornerstone.”
Gonsalves said that while he, like others, are concerned about Maloney’s athletics, he is concerned about her life.
He noted that the average life expectancy of a Vincentian female at birth is 75.
“And I expect that she would live longer than that,” the prime minister said, noting that Maloney is preparing for the 2028 Olympics.
He said that in his conversation with Maloney, he has noted that she has distinguished herself in athletics, adding that he has told her that he wants to see her develop “as a woman of the highest quality.
“And I said, ‘What do you want to be like? What you want to be doing when you’re 50?’” Gonsalves said, noting that Maloney has first and master’s degrees.
“Other worlds have to be opened up to her because she’s special,” he said, adding that this is also the case with Handal Roban, the other Vincentian Olympian who competed in the Paris games.
“And we could talk about Handal and the others too, but today is her day,” the prime minister said.
Gonsalves told Maloney that he wants to see her “grow as a magnificent human being and a woman of real quality and distinction and rise in whatever professional field you choose.
“She has a first degree. She has a master’s in areas where she could be very well employed at high levels,” the prime minister said.
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