Coaching Guyanese Olympians at Vannie

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If you are a regular at the running track at Van Cortlandt Stadium, you may know Joe Ryan. Or at the very least you may have seen him there on any number of days as he is putting his prized track star and student through his paces. But soon Ryan, the associate head coach of the Manhattan College track and field program, will leave the cozy confines of Van Cortlandt for a little bigger stadium – Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janiero, the home of the 2016 Olympic Games.

You see, Ryan has a nice little side gig to go along with his day job with the Jaspers. He is also the coach of Guyana’s national track and field team, a rather small contingent that will be competing against the track super powers of the world when the Games in Brazil begin on Aug. 5.

Confused as to how Ryan became involved with the Guyanese team? You’re not the only one. We’ll let Ryan, who will be appearing in his third Olympic Games, sort it all out for you. His tenure as a track coach at Manhattan plays a big part in fulfilling his Olympic dream.

“The big question I get asked a lot is: how does an Irish guy who is a U.S. citizen become a track coach for the Guyanese?” said Ryan, who is originally from Dublin, Ireland. “What happened was in 1995 I recruited a young lady from upstate New York to come to Manhattan, and her name was Aliann Pompey, and over the course of the five years she was here, Aliann developed into a world-class athlete. She was the NCAA champion in 2000, and she was selected for the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. I didn’t accompany her to Australia, but in her first World Championships in Edmonton [in Canada] in 2001 I was asked to accompany her, and that’s what started it all. I went to six or seven other World Championships with Aliann, and some of the other [Guyanese] athletes after that and then for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing [the Guyanese Olympic Committee] asked me to be her coach, which was a tremendous honor.”

Pompey finished 11th in the Beijing Games, but it was just the beginning of Ryan’s Olympic experience. He continued to coach Pompey, and four years after the Beijing Games, Ryan he was in London in 2012 for Pompey’s final Olympics.

“In 2012, I accompanied the Guyanese team again as part of their delegation,” Ryan said. “Aliann ended her career there, but she went out on the biggest stage on the planet. I was very proud of her. But I also kind of thought my association with Guyana was going to end there. But what happened was I developed another relationship with another young man named Winston George, and he was doing pretty well in the 400 meters, so his coach in Guyana decided to send him up to New York for me to coach, because obviously it went pretty well with Aliann. I’ve been working with Winston for four years now, and things are going pretty well.”

So well, in fact, that George, that prized track star and student Ryan toils with at Van Cortlandt Stadium, is headed to Rio to represent Guyana as part of its four-man track contingent. And guess who is going along as his coach? 

“They asked me to come back and help out again in these Games, which I was more than happy to do. I think they sent Winston up here to me because I had success with Aliann, so they must think I know what I’m doing,” Ryan said, laughing. “It’s been a fantastic relationship. It’s been there for about 15 years now, so I’m grateful to the Guyanese Federation for Track and Field and their Olympic Committee as well.”

One stunning statistic associated with Ryan is that he has had players he’s coached compete in the last seven Olympics. With star student Winston George competing this year, the streak has now hit eight straight.

“After Aliann retired I didn’t see that I’d be working with anyone else again,” Ryan said. “But I’ve had an Olympic qualifier in the last seven Olympic Games. We even had a couple from Manhattan who made it in the 1990s. So it’s kind of nice to keep the streak going this year.”

Ryan doesn’t promise any member of his Guyana team will return home with medals dangling from their necks: “You can never predict what will happen in the Olympics, so I never promise anything,” he said – but he thinks the tiny team from the small South American country is talented.

“It’s a small delegation we have, just four athletes coming for track and field, but, quite frankly, they are all good,” Ryan said. “The triple jumper named Troy Doris has been ranked top 10 in the world, and then there is Winston. And Winston finished 25th in Beijing in the World Championships last year.”

With the Games less than two weeks away and with still some training to do, there are other things associated with the Olympics that take Ryan away from his rigorous schedule. Like the email he received Monday morning that ended up eating a couple of precious hours from his busy day.

“I got an email [Monday] morning, saying they wanted my measurements for my Opening Ceremony outfit, so I had to go over to Lord and Taylor’s,” Ryan said with a laugh. “They also did my measurements in 2012, so they were more than happy to help me out again. They wrote down all these measurements, and I just told them: ‘Make sure they’re right. I don’t want to walk out there in front of a few billion people and trip over my pants.’ You just hope when you get there that everything is going to fit right.”

So how did it work out in the London Olympics? Pretty well, if Ryan’s memory serves.

“I remember in London I was dressed in a bright yellow suit and we looked fantastic,” Ryan said. “We looked very smart.”

Ryan will be departing for Brazil on Aug. 3, as the opening ceremonies are set to kick off on Aug. 5. And even though this will be his third time marching into a stadium to open the Games, this one will hold even more significance for Ryan.

“I’m actually looking forward to it because it’s going to be held at Maracana Stadium,” Ryan said of Brazil’s legendary stadium, the Brazilian equivalent of Yankee Stadium. “I’m a huge Brazilian football fan, so Maracana is one of the world’s greatest soccer stadiums, so I’m really looking forward to participating in that.”

One thing that will not have Ryan’s attention once he lands in Rio is the Zika virus, the mosquito-borne illness that has seen several Americans, as well as athletes from other nations, pull out of the Games.

“No I’m not worried about that,” Ryan said. “I’m 58 years of age and if any mosquito bites me, I think he’s going to die. The thing is, it’s going to be mid-winter down there, so the mosquito activity will be at its lowest. So I’m not concerned about it. But on the other hand, I think it’s a personal decision. If you’re young, I can respect that decision not to go, but I don’t think it’s going to be an issue. I’m pretty sure that the Olympic Village and the surrounding area are going to be completely sprayed. In every Olympic Games there’s always something. In Athens [in 2004] they were concerned that the construction wasn’t going to be finished. In Beijing [in 2008] it was the weather [and air quality]. But the weather in Beijing was fine, and they shut down factories and took half the traffic off the road so it was not an issue. Then in London [in 2012] they were very concerned about security, and there were no issues. So I think there’s always something.”

The first competition for Ryan’s Guyana team will be on Aug. 12,  which means you still have a little time to catch Ryan and George tearing up the track at Van Cortlandt Stadium until it’s time to depart for Brazil.

“For the next two weeks we’re going to be going through a tough period of training right here in Van Cortlandt Park,” Ryan said. “Pompey trained down there for 15 years, too. It’s amazing that in the Bronx you have a couple of Olympians training in a public park. It’s challenging at times, sometimes there are people walking around the track, and people with bikes and things like that. But usually when they see Winston run, people stay out of lanes one and two. That’s all I need. I just need two lanes. We’re at the Van Cortlandt Stadium probably four days a week.”

There are sure to be new memories made for Ryan in Rio next month, but the one moment that has a special place in his heart is from his first Olympic experience in Beijing in 2008.

“I ran for Ireland for eight years, and it was always my dream to compete in the Olympic Games, but I missed it,” said Ryan, who graduated from Manhattan College in 1981. “I kind of got close as an athlete for Ireland, but it didn’t happen. It was always a dream to get there, but to get there as a coach is the next best thing. So probably my favorite moment was when I landed in Beijing and I was brought to the Olympic Village and the next morning I got up and walked around and all of a sudden it hit me: ‘S---, I’m here.’ I never forgot that moment. It was very special. I remember just looking around and soaking it all in. It was unforgettable. All I can say is it’s going to be another incredible experience in Brazil. I’m very fortunate. To be to three Olympic Games is something else.”

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