Together Again!

After eight long years without seeing each other physically, Shafiqua Maloney and her mother, Jessica Maloney, met in an emotional encounter at the Argyle International Airport (AIA) on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.

At about 1:35 p.m., American Airlines flight AA1427 landed at the AIA about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. On board was Vincentian Olympian, Shafiqua Maloney, and making their way to the VIP Lounge were Jessica, her mother; Dale Ottley her father; and other members of her family.

Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves, was having an intense conversation with Shafiqua before her family walked in without noticing her. It was when the mother was alerted to Shafiqua’s presence that the emotions flowed to the surface as the two stared at each other for what seemed an eternity before walking into each other’s arms.

“My daughter! After eight years, I haven’t seen her. So it’s been a great feeling seeing her this afternoon,” Jessica told the gathering. “My daughter, I’m very, very proud of her. The challenges that she go through actually to pull through with what she is doing, it’s nothing more than discipline for herself. She is a well-mannered young lady, never give me any trouble of any sort from ever since… so I’m really, really thankful for her…and you know, mommy love you very much.”

Jessica who works on a cruise ship,and communicated with Shafiqua by phone during those years, said she was at work during Shafiqua’s appearance at the Paris Olympics. The ship was stationed in the Caribbean, but, said Jessica, “it was really far from Paris.”

When the Games began, she had to stop work periodically to check the results on the internet ,which took some doing.

“No matter how much it cost me, I mean I must get some internet to look at how my daughter will be running.”

She explained being nervous when Shafiqua had her first race.

“…I was nervous …I was shaking… I’m looking … taking away my eyes … looking … taking away my eyes because I was like, okay, better I see the results, because I don’t want to finish watching the race. And then when I saw the results, I was all like screaming for the first one, get with my colleagues, and we were all having fun,” Jessica recounted.

“Then the second race, it was more emotional for me. I go to watch the results on my phone, just run away from work for a bit, to watch the results on my phone. And when I saw that she came in second. I was in tears, really in tears to see how much she really pushed herself to get to that point for the second for the semifinals, and then for her to go into the finals, it was really a great joy, which I get my colleagues together and we were all jumping and screaming,” a still emotional Jessica said.

She added that when most of her work colleagues found out that Shafiqua was her daughter, “… they were like- but you are so quiet. Why you keep it to yourself? Because I’m not really a talkative person. So they were really surprised and they were all happy as well to know that it was my daughter there on the international stage at that time. So it’s really, really…a fantastic feeling.”

Speaking at the press conference about her journey to Paris, Shafiqua said of meeting her family “thank you guys for everyone, for welcoming me back- my family, happy to see my mom and my dad, and just, you know, I feel the love and all the appreciation, so thank you.”