President of the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC), Brian Lewis, has set a national objective to achieve eight more Olympic gold medals by the 2024 Summer Games.
The Trinidad Newsday newspaper said that Lewis believes that if athletes, national sporting organisations (NSO) and a nation do not set big targets, "we will continue to produce average and mediocre performances on the global sporting stage".
To date, the twin-island republic has secured only two Olympic gold medals - Hasely Crawford (100m) in 1976 and Keshorn Walcott (javelin) at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
However, Lewis, who was elected president of the TTOC in May, is certain that once the proper structures and programmes are implemented, a continuum of top-notch performances can be maintained from the many credible athletes of this twin-island nation. His ultimatum: a total of 10 gold medals altogether by 2024, according to the newspaper.
"We have to change the mindset and set big goals," he said. "We have gone past the times when we were just happy to qualify and participate. In the Olympic realm, we must think gold.
"The build-up to the Olympics includes CAC, Pan Am, Common-wealth, Youth Olympics and Youth Commonwealth, and at all these events, we must have gold medal aspirations. We have to aim for greatness and set a bold challenge for ourselves."
Lewis said that the TTOC will continue working with and educating its NSO affiliates on several courses, which would eventually amplify their purpose towards producing more all-round and complete athletes locally.
GOOD FOUNDATION
Lewis heaped praises on past representatives of the TTOC and their partners for setting a foundation which has proven to be a success, with TT's largest Olympic medal haul at the 2012 Games.
His intention, however, is to continue on this path and enhance those plans already in place to ensure a constant flow of quality athletes in as many sporting disciplines.
"The TTOC has a number of elements. The High Performance Centre, which is really about the Olympics on one end, Sport-4-All, which is about participation. We also build a capacity with sports administration courses, encouraging to shape communities and health and wellness, among others. These are simply what we have done over the years in terms of building the NSOs," he explained.
The former TTOC general secretary added that national athletes must also set their own personal goals and work toward them. While he declared that the fruits of this nation's sporting labour are testament to the work done by those before, he insisted that even bigger goals must be set if we are to really fulfil our potential.
"You will get a sense of backward thinking from people who see this as such a stretch and almost unrealistic, but the reality is that in anything you do, you have to strive for greatness. We as a nation must come out of this paradigm shift that things are impossible. The only way we can measure our full potential is if we aim for greatness," he concluded.