Jehue Gordon won the 400 metres hurdles at the World Junior Championships in 2010. He became the World Champion in 2013 at the age of 21. He was one of our brightest prospects for a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
His coach is none other than Dr Ian Hypolite, Chef de Mission/ESPN commentator. In 2013, Dr Hypolite was selected as the Coach of the Year by the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC). Clearly, he can coach.
After Gordon's first-round heat in which he placed last (eighth, according to some zealously-patriotic journalists) in a time of 49.98 seconds, we learnt that this was the first time he had clocked under 50 seconds for the 2016 season.
To put this in perspective, the Olympic qualifying time for the 400 metres hurdles is 49.40. At the Beijing World Championship almost exactly one year ago, he exited in the first round placing seventh with a time of 49.91. He ran 50.44 at the Sagicor National Championships in June.
Two questions arise. If Gordon was in such poor form, unable to run anywhere close to the qualifying time (much less his personal best of 47.69) for the last year, why was he on the team? Same question if his poor form was due to injury. (Oh, I forget, our goal was to send the "largest contingent ever" to Rio.)
Given his poor form, surely that's when he would have needed his coach full-time. Could it be that Dr Hypolite's other time-consuming duties denied Gordon his coach when he was needed the most?
Noel Kalicharan