Bermuda’s Youth Olympians returned home last night from Nanjing, China, with some encouraging performances and plenty to be proud of, said Judy Simons, the president of the Bermuda Olympic Association, who was at the airport to greet them.

“On behalf of the Bermuda Olympic Association, I cannot say enough about this youth team that has gone to Nanjing, represented their country proudly and achieved so much,” Simons told the youngsters and their parents.

“I can sincerely say that our sports that they represented us in are in very good hands. Our future is secure as long as they stay focused and we continue to support them. There is nothing they can’t do going forward. Job well done to our chef de mission [Katura Horton-Perinchief] and all the managers, who I understand had a very good time together, which is what team spirit is all about.”

The athletes failed to achieve podium finishes but three top-ten finishes was “amazing”, said Horton-Perinchief. Sailor Cecilia Wollmann was tenth out of 30 in the Byte CII class, while Jah-Nhai Perinchief finished eighth in the long jump final. Kyrah Scraders won the 800 metres B final and Kionje Somner the 200 metres C final.

“I’m really, really impressed with all of them and it’s unfortunate, I think, that we measure their success by medals,” said Horton-Perinchief, a former Olympic diver. “China has 1.3 billion people and they got a lot of medals, but when you put it in perspective, Jamaica had 20 athletes and we had seven, so we had a third of their team and with a fraction of their population.

“We had three top-ten finishes and personal bests from every other athlete, so it is something to be proud of. They saw people that they will see at the Commonwealth Games, Pan Am Games and Olympic Games, so this was a good introduction to the world stage. The athletes really rose to the occasion and we’re super proud of all of them.”

Track coach Rohaan Simons, a former high jumper himself, is tipping Perinchief, 16, to soar to new heights in the years to come. “Jah-Nhai right now is displaying a level of commitment and maturity that you rarely see in someone his age,” Simons said.

“Over these last three weeks I’ve seen him grow, not just as a high jumper but as a young man, displaying qualities that I’m very proud of. I think he has a very, very bright future and I’m hoping an association can back him and fund him, so that he can achieve the things I know he can.”

Simons said that it was 20 years ago this year that he qualified for the Commonwealth Games, jumping a PB of 2.12 metres. Perinchief is not too far off, after a career-best of 2.10 in the qualifying round in China.

“The first time I met him, I told him that I guarantee that I will make him jump higher than I ever did,” Simons said. “I think he would have bettered [his 2.10] if the competition in the first round had gone on a little longer. He would have gone at least 2.14, but he’ll be there next year; you can take my word on that.”

Perinchief accepts there is still plenty of room for improvement, but was encouraged by his performance. “I felt good about my performance, even though I didn’t do what was expected,” the youngster said. “I’m proud to get a PB this late in the season. The competition was very tough. There were a couple of guys jumping around my PB, but very few were way over my PB.”

Triathlete Tyler Smith, finished nineteenth out of 32 competitors in the men’s event, clocking a time of 58min 11sec, while Erica Hawley was 29th among the women in 1hr 8min 14sec.

“The experience of going to China and competing against the best people in the world in my sport in my age was something I really wanted to take advantage of,” Smith said.

“I was the second youngest in the field, but that’s not an excuse I want to use because the guy who was the youngest in the field is a month younger than me and he won the whole race. I’m going to be focusing on cycling for the next month and after that, I really want to focus on improving all my areas, specifically my run, where I lose time.”