OLYMPIAN, written by Dr Basil Ince, was published in 2011. The book examines, in detail, the history of Trinidad and Tobago's Olympic participation. Included in OLYMPIAN are profiles of the country's eight individual Olympic medallists, between 1948 and 2008. Between July 17 and August 9, excerpts from those eight profiles are being featured in the pages of the Trinidad Express. The profiles, in their entirety, are being published on the Express website (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/olympics).
Today, we feature T&T's first Olympic medallist, weightlifter Rodney Wilkes. He earned silver at the 1948 Games in London, England, and bronze at the 1952 Games in Helsinki, Finland.
The plan (at the London Games): Rodney would take three lifts in the press, the snatch, and the clean and jerk. In each lift he would start at the lowest weight and increase the poundage progressively. His lowest weight would be generally much higher than that of other competitors.
Rodney was in top shape, and not long after they arrived at Empress Hall, Earl's Court, his coach, manager, and masseur, Lionel Seemungal sent him to the dressing room to sleep.
Seemungal explained: "He had a phenomenal ability to sleep at any time instantly under the most incredible conditions. He could be talking to you and he would put his head on a pillow on the floor, or a plane which was on the tarmac in the blazing sun, and he would sleep."
Rodney had a good snooze because lesser mortals had started at lower poundages and it took some time before it was his turn.
As his turn approached, Seemungal went in and tapped the sleeping Rodney on the shoulder: "Rodney, get up and warm up."
Rodney warmed up using 100 lbs or a fairly light weight. The time for psychological ploys was over. The moment of truth was at hand.
At the night of the weigh-in, all the competitors in the 132 lb class were stark naked waiting to mount the scale. The US was represented by a Hawaiian-American, named Kotaro Ishikawa. Seemungal approached Ishikawa, tapped him on the shoulder, and stated, "You is Ishikawa. Rodney Wilkes is going to clip your head tonight."
The flustered Ishikawa apparently did not know what the phrase meant, so he went to his coach, Bob Hoffman, to complain.
The next thing Seemungal knew was that Hoffman was accosting him: "Look, what do you mean by threatening my man?" "Me, threaten your man?" Seemungal queried. "Yes," retorted Hoffman, "Ishikawa says that Rodney Wilkes will cut off his head tonight."
Ishikawa's inability to understand the phrase had made Seemungal's psyching ploy even more effective.
Rodney stuck to the plan and made his three attempts in each lift. He was successful in all nine attempts.
All along, however, Hoffman was trying to send Rodney behind Mahmoud Fayad, the Egyptian lifter, eventual winner of the gold. Hoffman's tactic was to entice Rodney to call for heavier poundage in the hope that he would fail, thereby allowing Ishikawa to place in the final.
Seemungal did not take the bait. He knew that Fayad was superior to Rodney in the fast lifts so he saw no reason to deviate from his battle plan.
The Egyptian lifters had quite a reputation and excelled at the fast lifts. In fact, German scientists at the Olympics in Berlin, had timed the light weightlifter Shams, one of the Egyptians, as the fastest of them all.
According to Bland, Shams' "footwork in performing the snatch was a miracle of speed as he hurled his body below the barbell which had to be snatched at arm's length overhead in a single movement."
In the end Rodney came in second to a superb lifter. The final lifts were Rodney, 214 1/2 press, 214 1/2 snatch and 269 1/2 clean and jerk; a total of 698 1/2 lbs. Fayad 203 1/2, 231 and 297, a total of 731 1/2 lbs.
Fayad beat Rodney by 32 lbs, while Rodney was 11 lbs ahead of the Iranian, Jaffar Salamassi.
Rodney had won the nation's first Olympic medal.
Everything worked well for Rodney that day. Prior to competing, Seemungal had massaged him with his favourite liniment, tequila.
According to Seemungal, "He loved tequila. I mean if push came to shove you could use rubbing alcohol. But he loved tequila."
Rodney had become very friendly with the Mexicans in 1948, a friendship which was renewed at the Pan Am Games in Buenos Aires three years later. The Mexicans believed that Rodney was drinking the tequila and handed him as many bottles as he wished. Little did they know that he was using it for massage. The massage had to be applied in a special way.
In Seemungal's words: "He has to be massaged with a feather touch. Don't be rough at all. You got to be like a fairy doing it to him."
Rodney was unsure about going to Helsinki because he never knew if there would be funds to send a team.
Seemungal, who did not attend those Games, remembered that Rodney was not prepared to meet the formidable Russians. Freddy Mendes, who went as manager of the weightlifting team, substantiated this statement.
"If Rodney had two weeks in Helsinki," he asserted, "he would have won."
Alexander Chapman, former president of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Association (TTOA), recalled that there were trials for Rodney at the Drill Hall on Tragarete Road just prior to going to Helsinki. Rodney barely mustered something like 665 lbs.
By the time Rodney was in Helsinki a few weeks later, his total had skyrocketed to 710 lbs.
US officials deliberately set out to assist Rodney in the Helsinki Games, all in the spirit of the Cold War. The Cold War was at its height, and international games were an integral part of politics. It was the first time that the Russians were taking part since the Games resumed in 1948. Consequently anyone who could beat the Russians became a friend of the Americans.
Freddy Mendes accepted the assistance of US officials in a number of ways, but all the technical assistance of the Americans was to no avail.
Rodney surpassed his total of four years before but had to settle for the bronze medal, behind two Russians, Rafael Chimishkyan and Nikolai Saksonov.
Chimishkyan's lifts were: press 214 1/2, snatch 231 and clean and jerk 297, for a total of 742 1/2 lbs. He defeated his Russian mate Saksonov by 11 pounds, while the latter defeated Rodney by 22 pounds.
Rodney's lifts were: press 220, snatch 220 and clean and jerk 269 1/2, for a grand total of 709 1/2 lbs.
With the powerful new comers on the scene, the 10 lb increase Rodney had made from 1948 was not sufficient. In fact, the fourth placed Rodrigo del Rosario of the Philippines was just 11 pounds behind Rodney's total and he set an Olympic record in the press, beating not only Rodney, whose strongest lift was the press, but also the Russians.
This was Rodney's second Olympic medal, and he returned home with Lennox Kilgour, who had also won a bronze in the newly created middle-heavyweight division.
-Dr. Basil Ince
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com