Clocking the same time in the first two rounds and going into the final with the fifth fastest time is already an achievement.
George Bovell 111 may even have thoughts of retiring after this Olympics and, the task of winning a gold medal may well rest upon this morning’s performance in the 50-metre freestyle event. It was exciting to see Bovell win his heat and produce the fastest time to that point. Even the close second place was good enough to tell us that he is mentally ready for the final moment. Will it be a sleepless night or will coach Anil Roberts do the job of a sports psychologist, and help his charge to exchange his nervousness for determination, something which he has demonstrated during his long and illustrious career.
The morning alarms will be helping T&T to rise early, sit and pray for this country’s flag to fly above the Olympic swimming pool in the same way that Americans Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps have done for their country. Our battery of track and field competitors will also start their bid today. Some claim these are the core events and while the world sits by and admire the speed of people like Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, play a bet on Keston Bledman. No one said that winning the 100 metres will be easy, but it is difficult for all and as we saw in the world Championships, any slip can be a slide for even the best.
On a note of football, it was great to see the two Concacaf qualifiers, Mexico and Honduras, moving into the quarter finals and while some may wish to sympathise with Honduras as they have Brazil as their next opponent, we must recall that the ‘Samba Boys’ are yet to win gold in fooball. They need it badly, but Honduras fought their hearts out to get to London and they will play as well as they can. Hopefully, I shall take a close look at the Mexicans, simply because I believe that they are among the best four football countries in the world today. We shall wait and see, but our premier task today is to see our George Bovell 111 go two better than his Athens bronze. Good luck, George.
By Alvin Corneal
Source: www.guardian.co.tt