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| Keshorn Walcott - T&T 2012 Olympic Gold Medalist |
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In an address to the nation from the Diplomatic Centre, Persad-Bissessar also invited all citizens to Piarco International Airport to welcome home gold medal winner Keshorn Walcott, 19, of Toco, who is arriving from London at 9.45 Monday morning with some members of the 30-member Olympic team.
Walcott threw a national record 84.58 metres with his second attempt. None of the other competitors was able to challenge his mark.
Persad-Bissessar told the nation that there would be a reception for Walcott at the airport to which all citizens are invited.
Following that the young man would be driven in a motorcade from the airport through the eastern Main Road, passing through Arima, Valencia and Sangre Grande and then on to his hometown of Toco where there would be a civic reception at the Toco Composite school. The event has been organised by the village in collaboration of the government of Trinidad & Tobago, she said.
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| Walcott's parents |
She said these athletes have renewed the country's sense of patriotism in this year of the celebration of the golden anniversary of independence.
4 comments:
Another holiday? No wonder you Trinis are so productive...
Keshorn Walcott's accomplishment justly deserves to be rewarded, in the same manner that Brian Lara deserves his castle, statue, promenade, cancer treatment centre etc.
Why can't Keshorn have his statue, and promenade in Toco, and (like Lara) his castle wherever he wants it?.
Is it because, unfortunately, that a certain sector of T&T is ignorant of the significance of victory in any Olympic event, for the sole reason that they are ignorant of any sport that is not Cricket?
African-American Jesse Owens winning four gold medals (the 100-meter, the long jump, the 200-meter, and the 4x100m relay) in the face of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis, at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games made him one of the most notable athletes of the 20th century. Owens helped the U.S. triumph at the games, proving to the world that Nazi claims of Aryan superiority were a lie.
When Jesse Owens returned home from his success in Nazi Germany, he faced barriers that he would not face today. He was subjected to racial discrimination in his native USA. He couldn't even ride in the front of any bus. He had to go to the back door." Jesse Owens was never able to enjoy anything close to the huge financial benefits that African American athletes can expect today. He received no Hollywood offers, no endorsement contracts, and no ad deals. President Franklin D. Roosevelt failed to meet with Owens and congratulate him, as was typical for other champions. With no recognition from his own country's discriminatory government for 40 years, it wasn't until 1976 that he was properly recognized when President Gerald Ford awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jesse Owens died 4 years later.
Let there not be such a blotch on the history of Trinidad and Tobago.
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