Marcano celebrates unlikely feat as Trinidad and Tobago depart Olympic camp

AT the twilight of his competitive sporting career, 35-year-old track athlete Andre Marcano achieved the unlikely feat of taking up a whole new sport and, within weeks, representing his country in the same discipline.

Marcano, a career 60m and 100m sprinter, having raced at numerous national championships, is now passing on his knowledge to juniors in Manhattan, New York, as a physical education teacher.

But just before hanging up his competitive shoes, Marcano was invited late last year to compete alongside UK-born and raised Axel Brown at the recently-concluded two-man bobsleigh event at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

There, the TTO trio placed 28th out of 30 teams, making it this country’s best-ever showing at the winter games after competing on three previous occasions, from 1994-2002.

“I am so proud of what we have accomplished as a team in such a short timeframe,” Marcano told Newsday.

“We were very consistent with our times, pushed through various adversities, and accomplished this with very limited resources compared to the other teams we were competing against.”

Brown and Marcano competed in the first two heats, on Monday, before John replaced Marcano in the third on Tuesday. They clocked one minute, 0.86 seconds for an overall time of 3:02.56.

They would have raced a fourth time had they finished within the top 20 after three races.

Germany dominated the event, winning gold, silver, and bronze, a first for the sport at the winter games.

Brown, the only one of three TTO athletes with experience in the sport, reached out to Marcano via social media in October, last year. The bobsleigh pilot sought a track athlete with the appropriate physique and ability to be his main brakeman to represent TTO at the games. Brown was always eligible to represent Great Britain but switched allegiances in part because of stiff competition to fly the Union Jack. He single-handedly qualified TTO for the event.

“We have gotten along really well,” Marcano said.

“We did the best (that we could) to bond in the short space of time.”

Marcano, in fact, only stepped inside the sleigh for the first time on February 4 - less than two weeks before the first official race.

Another much-younger sprinter, Shakeel John, also joined them as the reserve, replacing Mikel Thomas who withdrew at the last minute.

But Marcano said John showed the right mentality and readiness to compete on such short notice.

“He was ready to go and it showed. Everything happens for a reason and I am glad Shakeel was able to get his shine and was able to compete and say that he earned his Olympian title.

“We were very consistent throughout the games with respect to time.”

Marcano is next scheduled to visit home in June when he will compete once again at the National Association of Athletics Administrations’ national senior championships.

It doesn’t look quite like the end for Marcano and bobsleigh, either.

“(This country) made great strides in the event and I have every intention to continue to contribute to this sport,” he said.

The TTO athletes and officials left the Olympic Village within 48 hours of their final heat as per the policy designed because of the covid19 pandemic.

Among the camp were team officials, Thomas Harris and Lewis Prentice, chef de mission Lovie Santana and Rheeza Grant who served as liaison officer.