Written by: Channel 5 Belize

The twenty-first Commonwealth Games gets underway later tonight in the land “Down Under” – Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The Commonwealths are the second largest multi-sport event after the Olympics and held about halfway during each Olympiad. The Belize Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association has selected thirty-six-year-old cyclist, Alicia Thompson as Belize’s flag bearer for the opening ceremonies. Thompson is coming off a third place finish in this year’s Women’s Cross Country Cycling Classic. She is a former two-time champion in that event. She finished fifth in the regional road race at the Central American games in December and will be participating in the women’s road race and time trial. The rest of Belize’s twelve-member team is as follows: in triathlon, Brandon Santos and coach Kent ‘Bob’ Gabourel, both from San Pedro Town; in athletics, Samantha Dirks, Katy Sealy, Shaun Gill, Brandon Jones, coach Denis Costello and delegate Jaheed Smith; male cycling, Edgar Arana, Giovanni Lovell and Oscar Quiroz along with coach Perry Gibson; and in table tennis, Devesh Hukmani, Rohit Pagarani, Terry Su and coach Gabriel Guerrero. Overall head of delegation is Giovanni Alamilla.