News that T&T's World and Olympic cham­pi­on Keshorn Wal­cott is to be ap­point­ed a Sport­ing Am­bas­sador is be­ing well-re­ceived by some in the lo­cal sport­ing fra­ter­ni­ty.

Wal­cott's for­mer prin­ci­pal at To­co Sec­ondary, John "Slim" An­dal­cio, said the 32-year-old has earned the ho­n­our.

"I am glad for him. He has ma­tured ex­cel­lent­ly over the years and is de­serv­ing of it. The coun­try needs more Keshorns," said An­dal­cio, who al­so served as head coach of the To­co TAFAC Ath­let­ic Club, which Wal­cott was a mem­ber of when he shocked the world by win­ning the 2012 Olympic men's javelin ti­tle while still a stu­dent at To­co Sec­ondary.

Four years lat­er, at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil, he bagged bronze.

Last week, Wal­cott won the 2025 World Ath­let­ics Out­door Cham­pi­onships in the men's javelin in Tokyo, Japan, with a dis­tance of 88.16 me­tres.

For­mer World ju­nior and se­nior men's 400m hur­dles win­ner Je­hue Gor­don hails Wal­cott as a Trin­bag­on­ian to heart.

"Keshorn de­serves it all! A true pa­tri­ot and am­bas­sador not on­ly for the coun­try but for the sport of ath­let­ics," said Gor­don.

The gen­er­al sec­re­tary of the Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ic Ad­min­is­tra­tion of T&T (NAAATT) was in Tokyo, where he wit­nessed Wal­cott's gold­en per­for­mance.

For­mer pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) Bri­an Lewis said the ac­co­lade was long in com­ing.

"It is awe­some. Long over­due. Keshorn is an Olympic gold medal­list and bronze medal­list as well and it has tak­en a while. He should have been made an Am­bas­sador be­fore based on his achieve­ments. Long de­served," said Lewis.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad Bisses­sar an­nounced that Wal­cott will be named a Sport­ing Am­bas­sador, will al­so re­ceive $500,000 and the San­gre Grande Re­gion­al Sport­ing Com­plex will be named in his ho­n­our.