Nyasha Harris Wins Gold at CODICADER Games

Seventeen-year-old Nyasha Harris secured Belize’s first gold medal at the 2024 CODICADER Games. Harris won gold in the female one-hundred-meter sprint finals. She was beaming with pride as she stood on the podium with the Belize flag around her shoulder. We spoke with her today about that moment.

 

Nyasha Harris, CODICADER Gold Medalist

“For the one hundred we had two heats. That was the semi-finals. I ran the first heat, which I came in first and that automatically advanced me to the finals. I ran the finals, and I came in first as well with a time of twelve thirty-one. I was a bit nervous at first, but like I said the team was you know it made it less nervous for me then. It is not a personal best, but it is still better than the semi-finals, because the time I ran for the semi-finals is twelve fifty-eight. So, it was quite faster. I feel grateful, happy and really excited.”

 

Paul Lopez

“And what does it mean for you to win this gold for Belize and see the type of support you are receiving on social media?”

 

Nyasha Harris

“A lot of support from my fellow teammates, people back home and the people online as well. I want to say thank you. The support has been great. It helped me a lot with my races and it makes me feel confident while running my race. I would say I got it from the genes, my mom did track, my dad and my aunt too. So, I would say I discovered it from preschool. I usually came in first for sports day, in primary school as well. I did competition for track in primary school. Mostly it started in high school when we had competitions like CSSSA or NSSSA, that is when it started.”