The good news: today I join the thousands of citizens in offering my sincerest congratulations and salutations to all the 30-plus members of the T&T contingent at the just-concluded London Olympics. Of course, special kudos go to 19-year-old Toco resident Keshorn Walcott for being the second athlete to bring to T&T the much-coveted Olympic gold medal with a majestic and record-breaking javelin throw.
His unique victory has thrown him into sporting history and with this triumph he also chalked up several other firsts which have already been documented in the news media and elsewhere, so I won't repeat them in this space. Last week I expressed opposition to honouring our athletes and others on the international stage who "also ran," and at that time only one athlete had entered winners' row in London. Thank God by the end of the games we had collected three more medals, one of them Walcott's gold.
The fact is that I am satisfied that our boys and girls did perform exceedingly well, especially the medallists and for this I am indeed grateful and we all ought to express our heartfelt gratitude. As I said before, I am not a sports fan and from my discussions with those more knowledgeable than I am in this area, I am told much more could have been achieved if our athletes had proper training infrastructure at home.
Again, I was informed that Sports Minister Anil Roberts must be commended for having faith in the team and providing members with support mechanisms to have them represent the red, white and black in the British capital. Although I was critical of those who were showering praises on our athletes who did not place in their respective disciplines, I am inclined to agree with one of my readers, Jeanette Williams, who wasted no time in taking me to task for rejecting in this column last Thursday, the accolades they were receiving even before the games ended.
I took the criticism in the spirit it was given and in retrospect, even though I still hold fast to my stance, I felt I could have been a bit less strident with my take on rewarding those who have achieved and those who have not, in a general manner. One now hopes that Roberts and the Government would use our athletes' sterling performances as the catalyst to do even more to facilitate the up-and-coming athletes to ensure that when the time comes they are well-equipped to compete with the best in the world.
Master Walcott's epic triumph is just one example of what can be achieved when we encourage our people in their chosen field of endeavour with the right tools. I look forward to hearing from Minister Roberts and the Kamla Persad-Bissessar-led administration on what additional measures they would take in this direction.
The not-so-good news: while the vast majority of us were joyously celebrating our boys' and girls' successes, I couldn't believe that there were others who simply sat by and "bumped their gums," criticising the Government for what it has given Walcott as a reward for his magnificent accomplishment.
Probably if they were part of the large crowd that packed the airport and the thousands more who lined the route to Toco to greet their sporting heroes they would not be so quick to make some rather silly and uninformed comments. If they had also, like me, made the trip to Toco, they would not find the time to talk so much nonsense; they would have marvelled at the way people from all classes and walks of life waited patiently along the route, enthusiastically waving their flags in a true demonstration of love and patriotism, the likes of which I don't remember experiencing before.
Unfortunately, while most of us can share in a rare historical moment and what it portends for our beloved land, there are those who cannot for one minute forget their myopic love for party first rather than country. Fortunately, these people are in a very small minority and for all their vacuous ranting and raving they cannot keep the majority from moving forward. Let them wallow in their hatred and perhaps some day they might see the futility of their warped sense of national priorities.
