Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1500833
14 WORLD maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 7 JUNE 2023 Looking back at the GSSE: The highs, KARL AZZOPARDI MALTA last week was awash with sporting pride as its athletes made a clean sweep of medals in the Games for the Small States of Europe. It was a rare occurrence but one that saw Team Malta top the medals table for the first time in the games' history. Malta finished the week-long sporting bonanza with a re- cord-breaking 97 medals, in- cluding 38 gold medals across all sporting disciplines. Malta's previous best perfor- mance in the GSSE, which are open to European states with fewer than 1 million people, was a fourth place in the two previous editions it has host- ed – in 1993 and 2003 – as well as in the 2011 games held in Liechtenstein. The last edition, which was held in Montenegro in 2019 saw Malta place a disappoint- ing seventh. In what has been hailed a re- sounding success by pundits and fans alike, we look at the positives, the negatives and what the future of less-popular sports in the country looks like. The high point The work towards re- cord-breaking results in the GSSE started years ago. Malta Olympic Committee (MOC) Director Charlene Attard ex- plained in an interview how the preparations for the games started in 2017. The games saw the MOC, SportMalta, and the individ- ual federations of each sport collaborating towards funding, training and supporting ath- letes in their respective catego- ries to ensure optimal perfor- mance during the GSSE. In 2021, a record €4.9 mil- lion from the National Devel- opment and Social Fund was handed to the 10 sport federa- tions which represented Malta in the games. A previous €2.7 million had also been granted to the MOC by government to disseminate amongst affiliated federations. Team Malta's biggest success was in athletics, finishing the games with 15 gold medals, seven silver medals and ten bronze medals. Several new national records were also set during the games, with Graham Pellegrini in the 400m and Carla Scicluna in the 200m topping the nation- al charts. Jordan Gusman also set a new GSSE record in the 5,000m race. Women athletes were the top performers with Gina Mc- Namara winning four medals GOLD SILVER BRONZE TOTAL All sports 38 30 29 97 Athletics 15 7 10 32 Basketball 3x3 0 0 0 0 Basketball 5x5 0 1 0 1 Judo 1 1 2 4 Rugby 0 2 0 2 Sailing 3 4 6 13 Shooting 3 2 0 5 Squash 5 4 1 10 Swimming 4 6 7 17 Table Tennis 4 2 1 7 Tennis 3 1 2 6 The Cottonera indoor swimming pool was not completed in time for the games, marking one of the low points in an otherwise successful experience (Photo: DOI, Jason Borg)