Cleopatra Borel Her la t Olympics ?

her down on her plans regarding Tokyo.

After qualifying for the finals in the shotput event at Rio and finishing in seventh place, Cleopatra announced plans to retire from competition to focus on coaching and mentoring.

It seems, though, that she plans to keep the nation in suspense until 2020 as she chooses only to say that she is excited about Tokyo, regardless of whether she is there as a participant, or coach.

But she told WMN doing more to develop her event was a foregone conclusion. Cleopatra confessed that she had received criticism from individuals who felt she did not do enough to encourage others to follow her into the shotput arena. While she did not say whether she agreed, she did recognise she had a responsibility to the sport and the country as a whole.

“I used to think that as an athlete my job was to do the best that I can do. But now as a more mature athlete, I believe my job is now to actively mentor and help coach younger athletes who are going to continue this event. I can’t throw shotput for Trinidad and Tobago forever. Next year, I will be taking a more active role, if I am permitted to, with the coaching of the athletes in the group that I train with.”

Cleopatra’s own start with the shotput was something that the 38-year-old athlete came to on her own.

“It was something that I selected as a young person. I was interested in it and, looking back at it now, it was something that I could have excelled at the collegiate level without as much skill, or perhaps knowledge and technique as the other throwing events. It was easier for me to figure it out on my own.”

The pressure to prove herself was on as she qualified for her first Olympics in 2004, something she describes as one of her personal highpoints in taking part in the sport. Pressure, Cleopatra said, was a constant companion, event at her second and third Olympics, but she was determined to take a different approach to Rio.

“I decided that 2016, this would be the games for Cleo. This would be the one that I would enjoy. In 2008, I stressed myself out to the point where my hair was falling out in patches and I decided I wasn’t going to do that. I said I was going to do my best, I was going to throw as well as I could.”

“I did as much as I could to alleviate stress and I did a lot of mental work to make sure that I enjoyed the day.”

Cleopatra said it felt “amazing” to have qualified for the finals, taking into account that there were world champions and medal winners who were unable to do so.

“Once I got into the finals, it was my personal goal to be in the top eight and I finished seventh. On that day that was the best that I could do. That will just have to be good enough,” said Cleopatra, possibly taking a jab at Trinbagonians who watched the game upbraiding the national team for not bringing home more medals. “Everyone wants to walk away from the Olympic Games with a gold medal, but they are not handing them out as you enter the Village.”

In selecting her own charges to coach and mentor to the point where they too can stand at the finals or an Olympics, Cleopatra said she is looking for a specific set of qualities.

“I think I would be looking for is a personality type, “said Cleopatra, “There is a person who is going to go out there and compete aggressively in the women’s shotput.”

The athlete, who can be described as diminutive herself, said there is also an associated body type for the event, someone who is tall and strong, but even then, she would look for the athlete who had the correct mental attitude.

“You can take a tall strong person who doesn’t want to compete and it is not going to give you the right blend. I am not very tall or strong for my event, but I am willing to do the work and I love to compete. Winning doesn’t happen necessarily on the day. It happens in your preparation.”

Cleopatra said support for shotput and other throwing events was slowly gathering momentum in this country, but that there was still some way to go.

To help the event along, one of the activities she is thinking about doing a “street meet”, an event which takes the shotput out of the training area and out to public areas where people can get to try the event for themselves.

“I’ve done several of those in Europe and one in Africa. It’s an event that doesn’t take a lot of space and you can put a circle down, invite people and showcase the public and I think it would be fabulous to have a meet like that in Trinidad and Tobago.”