so hard. Nobody deserves this victory more than she does. She's a very popular winner.'' Those words, from American David O'Connor, the runner-up in the Pan-American Games to Bermuda's MJ Tumbridge, epitomise the reaction to Bermuda's first ever gold medal winner in the competition.

In terms of athletic achievement, Ms Tumbridge's gold medal is at the same level as Clarance (Nicky) Saunders' gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in New Zealand and Clarence Hill's bronze medal in boxing at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

And the medal haul from the Pan-Am Games -- two silvers by sailors Malcolm Smith and Sara Lane Wright in addition to Ms Tumbridge's gold -- make this Bermuda's most successful international games ever.

That these medals came in events which are not marquee events in the way that track and field or swimming are, does not diminish the achievement of the athletes. Indeed, because sailing and especially equestrianism do not get the same attention as the Island's major sports, the participants have to toil for years in obscurity before bursting onto the international scene as they have in these Games.

The two words that have been on the lips of every person involved with Ms Tumbridge's success have been "hard work''. The dedication and effort required to reach the very top of any international sport should be a lesson to all. To be sure, you must have talent, but without effort that will mean nothing.

The same lesson can be applied to almost any achievement and this is something which is often forgotten in this age of entitlement, when people are more likely to ask what their country can do for them instead of the reverse.

This does not mean that Ms Tumbridge, the chief executive of a company or the singer of a top ten song have not had help along the way; they are almost certain to have. But without "hard work'' and personal sacrifice they cannot reach the top.

This is the lesson that should be learned from Ms Tumbridge's achievement. She is a role model in a world where genuine examples are sometimes hard to find and more people talk a good game rather than play a good one. Ms Tumbridge has played and won and she deserves a place in Bermuda's pantheon of heroes.

Mea culpa St. George's Cricket Club president Louis (Red) DeSilva deserves credit for his quick response to criticism of releasing balloons at the opening of Cup Match.

The club was criticised in yesterday's newspaper because environmentalists have found that balloons which drift out to sea can kill turtles and other marine life. Mr. DeSilva replied, saying: "If I have control over it in the future it will not happen again.'' His quick mea culpa -- acknowledgement of an error -- turned what could have been a potentially difficult public relations problem for his club into a situation for which it deserves praise.