‘Mercy’ humbled by Jamaican award

Track and Field coach Michael “Lord Have mercy” Ollivierre says he is humbled by being recognised by the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) Alumni of Jamaica.

An Appreciation Award celebration in his honour, dubbed Coach Ollivierre’s Appreciation Celebration, highlighted five days of activities undertaken by the Alumni.

“I am honoured and humbled by the recognition, more so seeing that it is from a Jamaican institution and that I am Vincentian,” Ollivierre mentioned.

“It was also good that I was the focus of attention… It is a testimony of the impact that I had on athletes and the entire student body, during my time at STETHS,” Ollivierre related in a tone of gratitude.

Ollivierre spent 13 years at the institution, from 1981 to 1994, as sports director.

During which time, he was able to produce ten Olympians, as well as 35 Junior Carifta winners.

 Additionally, Ollivierre was able to procure 91 track and field scholarships at US colleges and universities for his charges.

 One who has travelled with representative Jamaica track and field teams, Ollivierre has under his belt of achievements, a total of eight individual champions at the famed Penn Relays and is numbered among the most successful high school coaches in the history of the Penn Relays.

 Ollivierre, a former head of the OECS Sports Desk, returned to St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2010, and has since cultured the IT- DAT Academy, into one of the leading track and field units here.