Caribbean heroes

“Keshorn will shine as a beacon of light to the young people of the nation”. These were the words of Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar while addressing a large gathering of persons at the Piarco International Airport to welcome home their latest hero – Keshorn Walcott. In front of a capacity crowd at London’s Olympic Stadium, Walcott’ s 84.58 metre javelin toss edged his closest rival, Ukrainian Oleksandr Pyatnytsya to win gold in that event, creating a world record for being the youngest athlete to have won in that category.
However, by far it was the remarkable achievements of the Jamaican athletes, more particularly that of champion sprinter Usain Bolt, who is the fastest runner on the planet, and his admirable colleagues Yohan Blake and Warren Weir, for their record-breaking stunning clean sweep of the men’s 200-metre sprint.
These were indeed remarkable moments that will forever be etched in the memories of those of us who were glued to our TV sets as we watched Caribbean athletes put on quite a magnificent show at the games. Surely, the Caribbean has enough reasons to celebrate as these heroes have made every West Indian proud of their accomplishments, which certainly will serve to inspire a whole new generation. We, therefore, join with the rest of the region in saluting our Olympic heroes.
Caribbean journalist, Ricky Singh writing in the August 12th edition of the Jamaica Observer puts its nicely: “The remarkable feats of Jamaican athletes at the 2012 Olympic Games and, to a lesser extent, those of Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, must make all citizens of our Caribbean Community quite proud to be part of the chain of islands and mainland territories that comprise this microcosm of peoples of diverse ethnicities, cultures, economic and political systems of the world. It’s a good time to be a citizen of the Caribbean.”
In that article, Singh makes reference to the fact that as a people “we have grown accustomed to the self-flagellation syndrome, beating up ourselves when overwhelmed by myriad social, economic and political woes, to the extent, too often, of ignoring our achievements that others easily recognise before we join in the applause”.
Like Singh, we believe that the time has come for us to move away from narrow perspectives to joyfully embracing the achievements of fellow citizens, predominantly so in the fields of sport and the performing arts.
The government of Trinidad and Tobago has showered its star athlete, Walcott, with many elaborate gifts, including a TT$ 2.5 million home; 20,000 square feet of land; TT$ 1 million cash, and a scholarship to the University of Trinidad and Tobago, where he will participate in the university’s elite sporting programme. Also, PM Persad-Bissessar said that as a result of Walcott’ s achievement, the Toco lighthouse – a landmark in T& T, would be renamed the Keshorn Walcott Toco Lighthouse.
The gifts were announced by the PM as she addressed thousands of citizens who had packed the atrium at Piarco International Airport to welcome Walcott and several members of the national contingent home. No doubt the Jamaican and Grenadian governments would follow suit in the coming days, but what is necessary is for the region to capitalise on these successes, especially as it relates to the level of global publicity that we benefitted from during the games.
Further, Bolt, Blake, Walcott and others have helped to create the level of hype needed to motivate young people not only to participate in athletics, but they have shown that with hard work, discipline and commitment, however big their dreams are, it is possible to achieve them. Regional governments, and local and national organisations responsible for sports also have an important role to play in creating the conditions necessary to make this happen.
More particularly, perhaps there is a lot that Guyana can learn from countries such as Jamaica and Trinidad as it relates to sports development, especially track and field. While the Guyanese athletes did not perform as expected, they too deserve commendation for reaching that far. It is our hope that for the next Olympics slated to be held in Rio in 2016, the local contingent will be bigger and stronger. There is no doubt of the possibility of this happening, but the work must begin now.