Long jumper Andwuelle Wright : Team Trinidad and Tobago helped me cope in Tokyo

TT long jumper Andwuelle Wright said the support system at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics helped him deal with the disappointment of not being able to compete after testing positive for covid19.

The day before Wright was scheduled to compete in the men’s long jump event at the Olympics he tested positive ruling him out of competition. Long jump coach Wendell Williams also tested positive along with women’s 400-metre hurdler Sparkle McKnight.

Wright and Williams were released from quarantine in time to participate in the closing ceremony on August 8. It was Wright’s 24th birthday on the day.

“I was totally disappointed that I could not get to compete at my first Olympic Games,” Wright said during a post-Olympic Games media conference, on Friday.

“I have been preparing since I have qualified being one of the early qualifiers (from TT).”

Wright, who is Tobagonian, said he could not bear to watch the Olympics after testing positive.

“I just had to re-group and re-gather myself mentally and take a while off from watching the Games on a whole to really get back to myself and knowing that I have multiple meets coming up.”

The 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 World Athletics Championships are two major events Wright will be aiming to compete in. Wright is the national record holder in the men’s long jump.

Wright said he may not have overcome the disappointment without covid19 liaison officer Rheeza Grant, chef de mission Lovie Santana and TT Olympic Committee member Annette Knott. “It was a hard, hard, hard time for me, but the delegates there from TT Rheeza Grant, Lovie Santana, Miss Annette Knott messaged me every day to make sure that I was in good health and made sure everything was going good with me and that kind of helped me knowing that there are always people there supporting me and always have my best interest at hand.”

Wright said his TT teammates still wanted to compete despite covid19 hitting the camp.

“I don’t think we had any hesitancy from anybody in the camp going out and compete because all of us know the work we put in and know that track and field is done on the day, so anything could happen on that specific day. We were always ready to go out there and give our best and we were just motivating each other every step of the way.”