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Saturday, July 12, 2025

Lendore's mother: ‘Bring my son back home'

by

1275 days ago
20220113
Chrispina Edmund proudly wears her son, three-time Olympian Deon Lendore's, sweatshirt as she shows a painting of him at the family's Tannis Lane, Arima home, yesterday.

Chrispina Edmund proudly wears her son, three-time Olympian Deon Lendore's, sweatshirt as she shows a painting of him at the family's Tannis Lane, Arima home, yesterday.

NICOLE DRAYTON

Carisa Lee

Chrispina Ed­mund, the moth­er of De­on Lendore, is ask­ing Gov­ern­ment to bring her son’s body home.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia at her Tan­nis Lane, Ari­ma, home on Thurs­day, Ed­mund said the ex­pense should not be an is­sue.

“In my mind­set he have done so much for the coun­try and I think it’s on­ly ap­pro­pri­ate that we should get the as­sis­tance to bring my child’s body, “ she said.

As she sat in front of a por­trait of her son wear­ing his 2012 Olympic t-shirt the moth­er said get­ting her son’s body back will bring the clo­sure she needs.

“I made a hu­man be­ing of De­on Lendore, I did not make an urn and I did not make ash­es…I want my child’s body in a box back in his coun­try,” she ex­plained.

Lendore, an Olympic and world cham­pi­onship medal­list who was 29, died in a car ac­ci­dent in Texas on Mon­day, news Ed­mund said that was dif­fi­cult to ac­cept.

“The first day and so I was bro­ken, I feel I could have die then I re­mem­ber I have oth­ers be­hind and I say don’t ques­tion God he knows the rea­son why,” she said.

This faith along with a spe­cif­ic mes­sage from her son was the rea­son Ed­mund said she was able to speak about him with­out break­ing down.

“My son came to me yes­ter­day morn­ing, three o’ clock, it wasn’t a dream and I lie and I clasp my hand in front of me lay­ing on the bed and he just come how he used to talk to me and he said mum­my be strong,” she ex­plained.

Chrispina Edmund, mother of three-time Olympian Deon Lendore, gives God thanks for the time she had with her son, during an interview with Guardian Media at the family’s home at Tannis Lane, Arima, yesterday.

Chrispina Edmund, mother of three-time Olympian Deon Lendore, gives God thanks for the time she had with her son, during an interview with Guardian Media at the family’s home at Tannis Lane, Arima, yesterday.

NICOLE DRAYTON

Strength she found not just for her­self but for the thou­sands of oth­er in­spired by her son’s lega­cy. Like his coach Pat Hen­ry who she said was dev­as­tat­ed by Lendore’s death.

“I start­ed pray­ing the decades of the rosary and I call on the Blessed Vir­gin and I said you suf­fered when your son died on Cal­vary cross for our sins and I know your pain now moth­er ease my pain and help me,” she said.

She asked for every­one to con­tin­ue pray­ing for her fam­i­ly as they too deal with their own grief.

“It was a se­ri­ous tragedy round here the whole place get qui­et it just get still the place get dead, it had some peo­ple didn’t want to be­lieve it,” neigh­bour Ju­nior Long said.

Long, as he stood un­der a bill­board rec­og­niz­ing some of the sprint­er’s ac­com­plish­ments, said Lendore was im­por­tant to the com­mu­ni­ty and they were all very proud of him. He re­mem­bered him as a young boy run­ning every­where he went.

“We all was fans of him, it was re­al sad, re­al re­al sad,” he said.

A sen­ti­ment shared by Mar­cia Scott who said her daugh­ter grew up with Lendore. Scott said his death came as a shock to every­body as she de­scribed him as a blessed child.

“I think God brought him for a rea­son be­cause it was short but he came for a pur­pose,” she sad­ly said.

It was one that the prin­ci­pal of Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege– the school Lendore at­tend­ed– David Si­mon said he ful­filled.

T&T 400m runner Deon Lendore holds the national flag after winning the bronze medal at the PanAm Games in Lima Peru, in 2019, as part of the national 4x400 metre team.

T&T 400m runner Deon Lendore holds the national flag after winning the bronze medal at the PanAm Games in Lima Peru, in 2019, as part of the national 4x400 metre team.

COURTESY DEON LENDORE INSTAGRAM PAGE

Si­mon told Guardian Me­dia that many of the teach­ers who taught him are still in dis­be­lieve as they re­mem­ber him as some­one who did well aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly and on the track.

“That is per­haps where his pas­sion was in the ath­let­ics,” he said.

Si­mon said be­cause of the pan­dem­ic he has not been able to see him re­cent­ly but be­fore that he would al­ways vis­it the school.

“Broth­er you left your lega­cy in your short life you’ve rep­re­sent­ed us well, sleep well and run with the King,” Si­mon said.


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