The fantastic performances produced by our athletes during the Games of the Small States of Europe were the best gift they could give to the public, coaches and the association.

The Matthew Micallef St John Athletic Stadium has not witnessed such large enthusiastic crowds for many years. We can safely say that we are no longer participating in these Games for the sake of showing the flag but we are now 'competing'.

All those interested in local sport know by now that in athletics, we won no fewer than four gold, five silver and seven bronze medals.

This report is meant to be a critical review of the results achieved, to show where we improved, or failed, on the already positive results in San Marino two years ago.

We need to give credit where it is due but we must also analyse the results to see where we could have done better in order to revise and amend our strategies.

Our results must also be seen against the background of the overall improvement in the standard of the Games. We need to understand that we are not the only ones who are striving to improve. The athletics associations of Cyprus and Iceland have admitted that they have ample funds to meet their requirements.

On the other hand, we need to remember that our athletes were denied access to the track and its facilities for three months up to a week before the Games.

It is also only fair to give credit to those who, although out of the medals' zone, their performance was as significant as the medals won by their team-mates.

The goals

We have, on several occasions, explained that the MAAA's primary goal is to raise the standard of the sport as we believe that the medals would then come automatically. The significance behind this far-reaching policy is to give the opportunity to all those athletes who want to succeed and not the very few who may seem to be potential medal winners.

No fewer than 13 new national records were established, during the GSSE, not to mention some personal best performances, like that of Manuel Pulis in the triple jump and Edwin Zammit in javelin.

Celine Pace's time of 12.17 in the 100m heat was a junior national record, and only 0.1 of a second outside the seniors record. Her 25.04 in the 200m (when she placed fourth) was another junior record and equalled the open record.

Nikolai Portelli ran a fantastic race in the 400m final, clocking 48.14 to establish a new record and clinch the silver medal. Another deserved silver medal was won by Tanya Blake in the 400m (women), again establishing a new record of 54.56 for Malta. The 4x100m (men) relay team established a record of 41.00 to win the silver.

Darren Gilford displayed great potential when he placed third in the 100m in a record time of 10.56. He registered the same time he produced in the semi-final, this time running against the wind. Mark Herrera's 1:57.97 in the 800m was also a junior record.

The 4 x 400m (men) team, composed of Karl Farrugia, Rashid Chouhal, Mario Bonello and Portelli, chopped off more than four seconds of the previous best mark to win bronze in 3:16.18.

The gold

That the athletic programme started with the 800m (women) was not a co-incidence. We all knew that Tanya Blake would not fail us.

She won the 800m in style, lifting the hopes of athletes and spectators alike when she crossed the finishing line in 2:07.21, claiming the first gold medal for Malta in all disciplines.

Blake scored a second triumph, her second gold, when winning the 1500m (in a national record time of 4:29.01). After leading for most of the four laps, she sprinted towards the finish to the sheer delight of the spectators who thronged the stands on the final day.

Chouhal's leap of 7.50m in the long jump, which won him gold, may have surprised those who were disappointed by his performance in the 100m final on the opening day.

But then Chouhal is, or should be, capable of better performances. Before he left Malta for a training camp in February, he had already shown he could clear over eight metres. One should also note that in the 100m heat Chouhal had clocked 10.64... not a bad time at all.

The ever popular Carol Galea proved she is still unstoppable over the longer distances, when she ran away from her nearest rivals, overlapping at least one of them, to chalk a comfortable win in the 10,000m in 36:13.97.

Ricky Baldacchino did not win the 5,000m or the 10,000m but he surely won the hearts of the Maltese with his gold-rated displays.

Two different events, two very similar tactical races, same athlete, some performance! He dictated the pace, a gruelling pace, then stepped back, letting others lead. He followed, waiting for them to tire out. He then decided to make a comeback and started overtaking those before him one by one. The crowd roared and rose as one when Ricky overtook the third runner and placed Malta in the medals zone.

A great performance is usually accomplished only once... Baldacchino did it twice.

...and the girls

Although the number of female participants is much smaller than that of their male counterparts, one must admit that our ladies outshone the men when it comes to medals.

They won three golds for the one won by the men, and nine in total. The men won seven.

Giselle Camilleri emulated Baldacchino and like him, persevered, kept on going, to win the bronze in the 5,000m. Anybody who was close to her at the finish knows that she was about to drop with exhaustion.

Only the cheers of the enthusiastic crowd must have kept her going when her aching body was protesting for her to give up.

A rising star, Rebecca Camilleri, 16, won her first bronze in these games in the long jump with a record leap of 5.86m.

I personally was expecting her to clear six metres knowing that she is capable and well conditioned to do that.

Lara Gerada, another dedicated athlete, won the bronze with her jump of 11.90m in the triple jump. A good performance even if it was not a PB.

The women's relay teams placed second in both the 4 x 100m (Therese Mallia, Celine Pace, Deirdre Farrugia and Sue Spiteri) and the 4 x 400m relays (Charlene Attard, Sue Spiteri, Celine Pace and Tanya Blake) with two magnificent performances. Two very strong teams, perhaps the best we ever had, who had the potential to win gold in both events.

In the 400m Charlene Attard, the youngest member in our team, placed fourth in a new junior record time of 57.66. This was better than the previous open record (57.79) and bettered only by Blake's new mark in the same race.

We have good reason to be happy with the results, as these show that our athletes are improving on past years (see table). They have adopted a professional approach to their training programmes.

The improvement is not merely in the number of medals won, but, more significantly, in the level of the sport which is clearly defined by the records which are regularly established each year.

We naturally need to study how to improve in certain areas we know we are still rather weak. We failed to win one single medal in the throwing events. In events like hurdles or high jump we did not even start.

The crux of the matter is clearly the amount that we can and are prepared to invest in coaching, first and foremost, and secondly in facilities and equipment.

We may need to consider if we should change certain policies and perhaps be more flexible depending on the budget that we can work with. A very relevant question would be - 'Should we continue with our policy of striving to improve athletics in general, or should we concentrate on the best athletes only and forget the rest (as was suggested to us a few years ago), or perhaps a mixture of both?'

We also believe that the MOC's Elite Training Scheme needs to be more flexible and changed on an annual basis, if necessary to meet the needs of the athletes at that particular time. We know that we can improve... all we need is the necessary tools to do it with.

I would like to conclude by thanking the athletes and their coaches and those who have contributed, directly or otherwise, towards the success of our sport in GSSE 2003.