FORMER Olympian, Alvin Daniel, is adamant that this country’s athletes deserve much adulation for their efforts at the London Olympics which he says is of the highest standard ever.
Speaking to Newsday yesterday, the former 200m and 400m runner, paid tribute to TT’s track athletes and in particular 2008 Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson and national sprint queen Kelly-Ann Baptiste.
Both athletes advanced to their respective 100m finals but failed to finish among the medals as the Men’s 100m gold unsurprisingly went to the sensational Usain Bolt while the female equivalent was won by Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. Both Bolt and Fraser-Pryce retained their sprint crowns. Thompson finished seventh in the race in a time of 9.98 in the Men’s race while Baptiste was sixth while crossing the finish line in 10.94.
“I want to congratulate Thompson because during the course of the season a lot of people were writing him off. People need to understand that he changed coaches and it will take time for him to settle down. Remember, the time he is running now was once a world record. I think if our athletes come back without a medal we should still reward them because the standard of this Olympics is the highest in all I’ve seen. Thompson supposed to be very proud because this is history we’re seeing. If (Asafa) Powell hadn’t pulled up (with an injury), all the 100m finalists would have run under ten seconds,” he declared.
Daniel was also full of praise for Baptiste who he believes is a pioneer in the sport for females locally.
It was the first time, TT had a participant in the Olympic Women’s 100m final and also the first instance that all three female sprinters qualified for the semi-finals.
“Kelly-Ann and the rest of them have been creating history and the public needs to realise that this is the first time that we’re getting these kind of times,” Daniel stated, referring to the six females who clocked sub-11 in the final.
“People living in this era should be thankful because you’re seeing some of the best sportsmen and women ever,” he continued. The former CAC silver medallist has called on the country to rally around the athletes who he believes are making us proud.
“We have to understand what athletes are going through...We’re doing real good for a small country like ours. Athletes all have off-days because they’re human but they need our support and need to know people are behind them. When you enter a stadium with over 60,000 people there it is not easy but you have to fight still because it’s a war!” he exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Daniel is banking on the TT Men’s 4x100m relay team for a medal but feels Marc Burns should have run in the 100m instead of Rondel Sorillo.
“I would have liked to see Sorrillo out the 100m for Burns. We have a really good relay team and that couple of runs for the 100m would have done Burns good going into the relays,” he concluded.
By Stephon Nicholas
Source: www.newsday.co.tt