Cudjoe, Lewis rally behind Keshorn, Jereem

Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe and TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Brian Lewis say they will continue to rally around TT’s athlete delegation as they remain in the hunt for medals at the Tokyo Games.

With just five events to go – men’s sprint and keirin cycling, men’s 4x400m relays and men and women’s 4x100m relays – for TT, the minister and local Olympic head believe the remaining athletes can still produce a medal performance at the Games, which concludes on Sunday.

Walcott makes shock early exit

On Tuesday night, two-time Olympic medallist Keshorn Walcott made a shock exit as he was unable to finish among the top 12 throwers of the men’s javelin qualifying round.

Walcott, the 2012 London Olympics champ and 2016 Rio de Janiero Games bronze medallist, threw distances of 76.13 metres, 79.13m and 79.33m.

Athlete who throw 83.50m and over in the qualifiers automatically advance to the final.

Three of the 16 men in Walcott’s group (B) automatically qualified. Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem had the furthest throw of 85.16m, followed by Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch with a season’s best of 84.93m and Germany’s Julian Weber with 84.41m.

Walcott finished seventh in the group.

There were also 16 athletes in the group A qualifiers, three of whom hit the automatic qualifying mark.

Walcott’s distance was the 16th best, overall.

The Toco-born athlete produced some exciting performances leading up to Tokyo including bronze (82.81m) in July at the Wanda Diamond League in London, silver (82.84m) at the Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland in June, silver (85.16) at the Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern in Switzerland in June and silver with a big 89.12m throw at the Kuortane Games Athletics Meet in Finland in June.

The iconic javelin thrower could not replicate his pre-Olympic form in Tokyo.

Richards 8th in 200m final

On Wednesday, 2017 200m World Championship bronze medallist Jereem Richards, placed eighth (20.39s) in the men’s 200m final at the Olympic Stadium. Richards was the fourth TT Olympian to ever make it to the Olympic 200m final.

Richards took to Twitter to share his feelings on the result.

“Came eighth in the Olympic (200m) final…Kids, lane two is tough but I had fun though.”

One hour later, the Point Fortin resident was back tweeting, “Btw (by the way) SIL (South Is Love)”

On his Instagram page, the 27-year old sprinter reminisced about his journey and some of the challenges faced.

He also said he was looking to Friday’s opening round of men’s 4x400m relays, which gets under way from 7.25am.

“From running in the road and struggling to find somewhere to train all 2020 to making an Olympic finals and finish eighth fastest in the world in 2021. Ain’t God Great!!! Next up 4x4 relay.”

Cudjoe, Lewis: More to Olympics than medals

In telephone interviews with Newsday, Cudjoe and Lewis called on citizens to continue rooting for the nation as they go up against the world’s best athletes on the biggest competitive stage.

The sports minister said, “All our athletes out there are doing the best, giving their best and I want to commend all of them.

“Of course we want medals, but they are doing their best. The fact that they have made it this far is commendable and we will continue to support our athletes. We still await the rest of the games and performances. We salute all our athletes for a job well done.”

She added that TT’s athletes have performed well in the face of adversity and amid a global health crisis. She said the government has supported the athletes by providing assistance, coaching and financial resources prior and during the quadrennial games.

However, some local athletes, including at least one Olympian, have complained about inadequate Olympic preparation owing to lack of local competition and pandemic restrictions that affected training.

Cudjoe also took a swipe at people who have been critical of TT’s athletes on social media.

“It’s so much more than medalling. It’s about the athletes going out there and giving it their best shot...We look forward to their continued high performance.

“There are people who have never taken part in a school sports day or a march past in their life and are commenting negatively about our athletes on social media.

“Like Jamaica, we should support our athletes – win, lose or draw. I hope we can adopt that same attitude. Of course, there’s much work to be done in all areas.”

Lewis shared similar sentiments and lauded the recent efforts of Walcott and Richards, and all TT’s athletes, for showing resilience and perseverance during the Games, which was postponed for one year owing to the pandemic.

He said athletes should embrace this year’s event as building blocks for future competitions, particularly the 2024 Games in Paris.

“Jereem is someone who would have done his best and is all about bouncing back and building from this. I’m quite confident that Jereem, all the athletes, would be in a position to build from this experience.

“Keshorn was always somebody who sets out to do his best. The reality of sport, just as life, you may not, every single time, get the results that you may have set out to achieve. That’s life, and I’m quite sure that Keshorn and his coach will bounce back,” said Lewis. Lewis said Walcott’s exit does not affect his tremendous legacy.

“I remain confident that we will go back to the drawing board and look forward...

“It has been a very challenging environment to test our athletes to see how bad they want it. This is the reality of international-level sport but the important thing is rebounding, moving forward and making whatever adjustments that need to be made.”