Olympic men’s javelin champion Keshorn Walcott landed yet another award on Friday after he was named the 2012 First Citizens Sports Foundation Sportsman of the Year, at the foundation’s 50th Anniversary Awards Ceremony at Queen’s Hall, St. Ann’s. The 19-year-old was the runaway choice for the top award after he captured only T&T’s second Olympic gold medal at 2012 Olympics Games in London, England, last August.
The Toco-born thrower won the event with a national record of 84.58 metres to remain unbeaten in all his meets for the year. Walcott was absent for the ceremony as he is in Cuba training for the upcoming season. His manager Sean Roach accepted the award on his behalf from President Anthony Carmona. Walctott’s track and field colleague Kelly-Ann Baptiste won the Sportswoman of the Year title for the second straight year. The Plymouth sprint queen got the nod after she became the first local woman to qualify for an Olympic finals in the women’s 100 metres in London, where she clocked a time of 10.94 in finishing sixth.
Baptiste collected her trophy from First Lady Reema Carmona. The 2011 World Championships bronze medallist arrived for the ceremony from her training base in Florida, USA, and returned early yesterday. Walcott and Baptiste were among 44 athletes from 27 sporting disciplines nominated for awards and were among the top ten announced during the show. Olympic finalists Njisane Phillip (cycling) and George Bovell III (swimming), 2010/2011 winner Roger Daniel (shooting), Olympian Andrew Lewis (sailing), Carlos Greene (Parlympics), Melissa Aguillera (cricket), Andrian Browne (Powerlifting) and Sunil Narine (cricket) were the other top ten awardees. They received awards from Sports Minister Anil Roberts. The national men’s 4x400m team of Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Solomon, Ade Alleyne-Forte and Deon Lendore copped the Team of the Year.
They were awarded the Jeffrey Stollymeyer Award after combining to take bronze in the London Olympics in a national record of 2 minutes 59.40 seconds. NAAA assistant secretary and London Olympic track and field team manager Dexter Voisin collected the award on their behalf from Brian Stollymeyer, son of Jeffrey. The Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation received the Lystra Lewis Award for the Most Outstanding Sporting Association, beating out the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board and the National Association of Athletic Administration (NAAA),last year’s winner. Cycling Federation president Rowena Williams collected the award. A recent feature of the awards were the WOW moments which featured Olympic men’s 400m bronze medallist Lalonde Gordon, Njisane Phillips, Jehue Gordon, Shivandra Parbhoo, George Bovell III, Sunil Narine, Machel Cedenio, Jodi Goodridge and Keiron Pollard.
HONOUR ROLL
• Sportsman of the Year: Keshorn Walcott (Track and Field)
• Sportwoman of the Year: Kelly-Ann Baptiste (Track and Field)
• Team of the Year: Men’s 4x400m team
• Association of the Year: Trinidad and Tobago Cycling Federation
By Clayton Clarke
Source: www.guardian.co.tt