Keshorn salvages Rio 2016

Walcott, at just 19 years of age in London 2012, threw 84.58m to win gold. This time around, the field proved even stronger, pushing him to the brink after he topped the first round with a jawdropping 88.68m heave.

Germany’s Thomas Rohler eventually took gold with 90.30m while Kenya’s selftaught Julius Yego copped silver with 88.24m. Walcott maxed out with 85.38m as the best of his six throws in the final, garnering bronze and compounding how much more competitive Rio has been than London.

In stark contrast to Walcott’s performance, which always seemed cool under pressure, the rest of Team TTO struggled with personal bests and national records way below the international standards required to win.

Veterans fizzled, the youth seemed burnt by their baptism of fire and of course, the general public chastised, at times in an unwarranted manner. TT should note that while the athletes do deserve to be held accountable, it’s a combination of infrastructure, grassroots and youth developmental programmes from the high school and university level; as well as proper coaching systems that need not see our athletes fly out for foreign training.

The best model to look to would be Jamaica’s high school ‘Champs’ where the atmosphere is Olympic-like and the quality remains astounding. Their athletes are groomed immaculately and this shows in their haul in Rio - six gold, three silver and two bronze medals.