The T&T Olympic Committee (TTOC) has issued a public apology to the four local Olympic representatives who were not publicly acknowledged at the welcoming ceremony for the returning Olympians at the Piarco International Airport on Monday. Six of T&T’s Olympians touched down at the airport on Monday including gold javelin medallist Keshorn Walcott, cyclist Njisane Phillip, sprinters Michelle-Lee Ahye and Reyare Thomas, 400m runner Machel Cedenio and 110m hurdler Mikel Thomas. However only Walcott and Phillip were publicly recognised and presented to the public from the balcony of the airport’s atrium. Speaking to the T&T Guardian yesterday, TTOC secretary general, Brian Lewis, deemed the occurrence as unfortunate and disappointing and said the TTOC accepts full responsibility for what transpired, and has issued a public apology to the athletes and their families for their public non-recognition at the reception. “The TTOC is the one responsible for the athletes and all the team members. I think everyone was just overwhelmed by the outpouring of emotions towards our gold medallist Keshorn and all the celebrations and focus were really directed towards him which is very understandable, and also Njisane who really set London alive.”

Lewis stated that problems in communication took place at the airport which led to Walcott and Phillip only being presented to the audience. “This is not the first time a ceremony like this has been organised. There are people in the TTOC, the Ministry (of Sport) and the sport company (of T&T) who know the protocols and have experience in organising these kinds of things but, somewhere along the lines of communication things did not go according to plan. “Upon the arrival of the flight, Walcott and Phillips were taken into the VIP Lounge where they had a state meeting with the Prime Minister and the Minister of Sport. I was advised that the other athletes were later taken to the VIP lounge as well. But when it was time to make the transition from the lounge to the balcony, that’s where the miscommunication occurred and I think that could have been handled better. How the instructions were given to the athletes at that transition point were not given priority.”
Lewis blames no one for the mishap, and affirmed his confidence in administrating officials, “Based on experiences in the past we have worked with very competent individuals in the sport company who we have a high measure of trust and confidence in, and I can categorically say that they paid attention to every detail. It’s just that transition was not properly communicated. It is not unreasonable that certain individuals might have gotten caught up in all the emotions surrounding Keshorn and Njisane. I mean Keshorn went out there and stunned the whole world and Njisane also surprised many by coming fourth in the match sprint and seventh in the keirin. So whatever happened in the outpouring of emotions was totally unintended.
By Shernice Thomas
Source: www.guardian.co.tt