Pursuing Olympic glory

Some people who consider themselves “true Trinis” because they are Trinbagonian “born and bred” and probably never left the country, rejected the fact that a “Canadian” was waving our flag.

But to highlight how backward and small-minded our citizens are, American-born Jamaican gymnast Toni-Ann Williams had the full support of her country, as do all of the African athletes representing TeamGB and TeamUSA.

There is a stark hypocrisy in our people supporting British-born former national footballer Christopher Birchall, Canadian-born swimmer George Bovell, American- born sprinter Jarrin Solomon, or American-born swimmer Dylan Carter regardless of their places of birth and not Dick because of hers.

I am also certain that if it was up to some of these same people, Tobago- born Renny Quow would be excluded.

Unfortunately, this is a level of ignorance I have come to expect from Trinbagonians.

With that first issue out of the way, everyone knows the real source of the hatred towards Dick was the dubious circumstances under which Trinidad-born Thema Williams was withdrawn from the Olympics. There is no doubt in my mind that Williams suffered a great injustice because she is clearly, by far, the better gymnast. The optics were bad. Whilst it may not have been the reality, it is difficult not to consider the possibility of discrimination.

Nevertheless, I wanted Dick to succeed, but her performance was shocking. Event after event, I watched Dick stumble and wobble her way towards the end of a really disappointing performance. I was not expecting to see a re-embodiment of former Soviet Union gymnast, Olga Korbut, but I expected much better. Some might say its karma; I just think it was quite sad.

This situation makes me question whose interest is at heart for our governments and sporting bodies. Trinidad and Tobago is heaving with raw talent, yet we cannot even find and train the best, fastest and strongest to send to the Olympics to rake in gold medals. We live on an island with 1.3 million people and cannot find enough people to compete in the various aquatic events, when European countries that aren’t bordered by water send swimmers to smash records. Clearly, our politicians and sporting bodies are only interested in pocketing the hard earned money of tax-paying citizens. There is absolutely no interest in investing in the future of sports.

Instead, we show favouritism, reduce our national women’s football team to begging for food in America and allow a Minister of Sport to aid in the pilfering of $34 million without becoming a guest of Hotel Remand Yard in Port-of-Spain. In another country, there would be riots, resignations and firings; in Trinidad and Tobago, we have an orderly line of sheep.

There are 32 Olympic sports - although I believe tennis and golf should not be part of the Olympics as they already have numerous championships – and there is no reason why we cannot find, fund and train enough people to have a full complement of participants. It is only with participation in these championships will our athletes get better. Regrettably though, we live in a country that only pushes football and cricket down our throats.

As an avid basketball player, I am disappointed in the attention given to my sport; far less all the others.

Our politicians do not see the value of sports, otherwise they would have realised that building football stadiums and cricket pitches will not excite every young person in Trinidad and Tobago. We have to expand our facilities so people like Williams would not have to do her gymnastics training in Michigan and our athletics squad would not have to rely on their training at US universities in order to become competitive.

I have no hope of any of these things becoming reality because the PNM dances to the music of the Syrian/Lebanese business community and I don’t think the latter will approve of their government investing in the poor and middle class. And even if we, God-forbid, return to the thievery of the People’s Partnership, they only invest in themselves anyway.

American and European athletes aren’t born great; the difference is that they are encouraged and funded by their governments and local businesses. Training to be great is a full-time job and I doubt patriots of this country would challenge any initiative by a government to make this kind of investment in sport, especially so when it seems to be the only t h i n g t h a t b r i n g s our div i d e d country together.