T&T Rio 2016 Performance Review

Trinidad and Tobago had representation in track and field, swimming, sailing, boxing and cycling as well as first ever representation in rowing, gymnastics and judo. Much was expected in track and field. Keshorn Walcott, the defending Olympic champion was expected to challenge for gold once again, unfortunately he wasn’t at his best but he still earned a bronze medal, which shows the talent this young man from Toco has, that even after a poor performance, he was able to achieve 3^rd place. Cleopatra Borel despite obstacles she faced in preparation for this Olympics was able to achieve her highest placing of 7^th in her 4^th Olympic appearance, well done to her. Michelle Lee Ahye did exceeding well in making history on becoming the first woman to make it to finals of both 100 and 200 meters at an Olympic games, where she finished 6^th in both races, hopefully she continues to improve. The other women representing T&T were Kelly Ann Baptiste( 100m, 4x100m ), Semoy Hackett( 100m, 200m, 4x100m  ) and Reyare Thomas( 200m, 4x100m ). There was hope that Kelly Ann Baptiste, a 2 time I.A.A.F. World Athletics Championship Bronze medalist would at least make it to the semi-finals, she was no where close to her season best. The relay team made it to the final, and they were expected to medal, which would create history, as it would be the first time that a woman would medal for the at the Olympics. Unfortunately they finished 5^th, an underperforming Kelly Ann and a young rookie Khalifa St.Fort played a part. Surely Michelle Lee Ahye should have run the anchor leg instead of young Khalifa. Again we were left disappointed as all 3 men didn’t make it to the semi-final and the men who made it to the 4x100 relay final were disqualified. In the men 400 meters hurdles T&T were represented by former world champion Jehue Gordon. Expectations were low because he wasn’t fit for majority of the season, so it wasn’t a shock he failed to advance out of the 1^st round.  Expectations were also not that high for Sparkle McKnight and Janeil Bellille who made it only to the heats and semifinals respectively. In the 400 metres, out of the trio; Machel Cedenio, Deon Lendore and Lalonde Gordon only Cedenio was expected to make the final and he did so breaking the 24 year old national record. T&T were also expected to medal in the 4x400 meters but sadly they were disqualified just like the 4x100 meters men.

In Swimming the expectations were low also where we had 33 year old, 5 times Olympian and Bronze medalist, George Bovell and upcoming 21 year old swimmer Dylan Carter. Both Bovell and Carter failed to make it past the first round but Carter did achieve a new national record. Special acknowledgment goes out to first ever representation in the sports of Judo, Rowing and Gymnastics, Where Christopher George, Felice Aisha Chow and Marisa Dick made history. While Nigel Paul and Njisane Phillip didn’t compete in events that T&T had prior Olympic representation, but they need recognition as well. It is well documented Njisan’s health going into the games, yet he was still able to do a personal best but was not enough to advance pass the quarterfinals in the Men’s cycling sprint. Paul was KO with 16 seconds to go in the first round, still with only 14 bouts to his name and only 15 months as a boxer, it is a great accomplishment just appearing at Rio 2016. I must commend Andrew Lewis who after the fall he had, ironically in Brazil, experts thought he would never compete again in the sport of sailing but he was driven to compete at the Olympics and so he did in grueling 10 races.

It was really not the best Olympic Games for team T&T apart from Keshorn Walcott in the sport of Javellin but much was expected by the relay teams and they failed to deliver but for the rest of the team not much was expected, that’s the sad reality. It’s great news that the Minister of Sport, Darryl Smith will analyze all the athletes who receive funding from the Elite Athlete Fund. Should they continue to receive or are other athletes more deserving and how to improve performances at future global championships.