Olympic rethink needed

A DECADE ago, the president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC), Brian Lewis, launched a campaign – inclusive of fundraising – for this country to win ten gold medals by the year 2024.

But the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have now come and gone and not only is the #10Golds24 dream unrealised, but this country did not win even a medal in a single event in the games. In only one did we come close – agonisingly so – to standing on the podium.

It marks the second Olympics in a row in which we have come away empty-handed.

This raises a lot of questions and most certainly calls for a diagnostic ahead of Los Angeles 2028.

Unless we change tack, our historic tally of gold medals is likely to remain at three for a much longer time to come.

There have been dry spells before. This country did not win medals in 1956, 1968, 1972, 1980, 1984 or 1988.

And the goal of ten golds by 2024 was always somewhat ambitious.

Back in 2014, when Mr Lewis launched that project, there were three Olympics ahead, including Rio de Janeiro 2016, in which we later brought home only one bronze, and Tokyo 2020.

By Tokyo 2020 (held in 2021 because of the covid19 pandemic), it became clear the country was not going to realise its 2024 dream after failing to medal despite having our largest contingent.

Yet that disappointing performance could conceivably be chalked up to the fallout in global sport resulting from the pandemic.

What is disconcerting about our most recent medal no-show is the worrying sense that we have made no progress; have not been able to build on more recent achievements and near-misses.

While it took three decades before this country would win another gold medal after Hasely Crawford’s in 1976, one would think things have changed and that we would not have to wait three decades more before someone else builds on Keshorn Walcott’s javelin throw of 2012.

Aside from looking at the usual problems and complaints relating to funding, a review should also address the critical question of whether simply too much pressure is being placed on athletes.

Part of being a sportsman is handling stress. However, when the hopes of an entire nation are on your shoulders, and when your competitors come from much larger nations with much larger teams, that will always set you apart, in both good ways and bad. This was always the case, but social media magnifies it.

Olympics require long-term planning and consistent support systems, particularly because there is a merciless turnover of athletes. It is unlikely 2024’s faces will be fit for 2028.

Thus we need to start looking towards Brisbane 2032, and beyond, as well.