NATIONAL 400m Hurdles champion and Olympian Jehue Gordon and his coach Dr Ian Hypolite left the shores for the Michael Johnson Performance Centre in Dallas, Texas, on Monday. This is as a result of a partnership between BP Trinidad and Tobago and the National Olympic Committee (NOC) with the four-time Olympic gold Legend.
He is the first local athlete to head off to the centre and the funding will come from the NOC, who will also be selecting the other athletes to attend the facility. Olympian (cyclist) Njisane Phillip and Paralympian Shantol Ince, the other two athletes identified, are expected to head off at a later date.
Gordon who is fresh from winning the Falcon Games 400m hurdles at the Hasely Crawford Stadium on Saturday, said he does not know what to expect but he is going with an open mind. “It will be an honour for me to work along side somebody like Michael Johnson is a pleasure to get insight into what he would expect from somebody with my physical capabilities. What I should be doing, my strengths, my weaknesses and how I should be able to work on it,” said Gordon.
The 2012 Olympian who placed sixth said they intend to share all the knowledge they acquire with the other athletes and coaches when they return.
“We are not greedy people, we want to see Trinidad and Tobago develop as a nation and we want to be world beaters. We don’t just want our athletes to run fast one year and then the next they are struggling. We want there to be consistency and to be able to compete against the best in the world on a regular basis,” said the national champion.
The Centre which was formed in 2007 after Johnson’s retirement in 2001, provides training and analysis designed to improve speed, agility, strength and stamina. The four-time Olympic gold medallist said his aim is to help train other athletes reach their full potential using the same training philosophy and training techniques he used to achieve unprecedented success.
Source: www.newsday.co.tt