Sub par year for TT athletes

The TT team performed extraordinarily at the Pan Am Juniors and they returned with the best ever medal haul for their country at the games with two gold, five silver and three bronze medals.

Young sprint sensation Keston Bledman has been a revelation as he created a stir in June when he edged Marc Burns to place third in the 100m final of the Sagicor National Open Championships at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in 9.95. Bledman continued his good form at the Pan Am Junior as he clocked 10.32 on his way to gold in the 100m while the sprint quartet of Zwede Hewitt, Ade Alleyne-Forte, Kervin Morgan and Jovon Toppin combined to take the top spot in the 4x400m event in a time of 3:05.70.

In the individual event Hewitt crossed the line in 46.04 to take the silver in the 400m and his compatriot Alleyne-Forte was in third position in 46.27. The girls team followed in their counterparts’ footsteps as they sprinted home in second place in the 4x400m. The team which comprised of Janeil Bellille, Britney St Louis, Sabe St Louis and Afiya Walker crossed the line in 3:35.28.

Other medalists were Janeil Bellille who collected silver in the girls 400m hurdles in 56.94 while the national two-lap champion Jamaal James had to settle for the silver after a blistering run of 1:48.87.

TT’s 4x100m relay teams were on the podium as well with the Girls team ( Britney St Louis, Semoy Hackett, Sabe St Louis and Nyoka Giles) grabbing the bronze medal with a 44.69 finish.

The Pan Am 100m champion Keston Bledman teamed up with Kervin Morgan, Kendal Bacchus and Abiola Glasgow to compete in the boys 4x100m event. The youngsters fared one better than the girls as they clocked 40.11 to take the silver medal. Kyron Blaise leaped on to the medal podium with a third place finish in the Boys Triple Jump event with an attempt of 15.81m.

The Junior athletes were quite successful for 2007 but at the more prestigious events such as the 11th IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan from August 25-September 2, TT returned home without a medal. Marc Burns’ poor season continued with a last place finish in the Men’s 100m final in a time of 10.29. His effort in reaching the last eight must be commended considering the poor season he was having. TT’s other top sprinter Darrell Brown was not selected to represent TT at the championships because he failed to present himself to the National Amateur Athletics Associations committee on or before August 10 for a fitness test.

After running a blistering wind-assisted 9.88 seconds in the 100m final at the Sagicor National Open Championships on June 23, Brown pulled out of the Pan Am Games in Rio de Janeiro held in July citing a foot injury. A fiasco erupted with several sport personalities arguing that he should have been given more time to return to top form before they scratched him from the tourney.

As a result young Bledman, Richard Thompson and Marc Burns carried the mantle for TT in Rio de Janeiro. None of them advanced to the final as they bowed out in the semis with inadequate times. The sprinters, long distance runners and field athletes returned home with no medal and in most cases failed to advance to their respective final.

A humbling experience at the Pan Am Games was saved by TT’s female shot-putter, Cleopatra Borrel-Brown who grabbed the bronze medal in her event with a throw of 18.22m which was .06 metres less than the silver medalist, Yumileidi Cumba from Cuba.

But the former Sportswoman of the Year was unable to reproduce a similar effort and failed to advance to the finals at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan one month later.

The local contingent which participated in the World Junior Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic from July 11-15 returned home with nothing tangible to show for their effort. But young athletes such as national Junior shot put champ Quincy Wilson, reigning 1500m champion Gavyn Nero and national one lap king Renny Quow have shown enough promise that it is clear to see that they have a bright future ahead of them.

On November 24, Ephraim Serrette was re-elected unopposed to serve a three-year term as president of the NAAA at their Annual General Meeting. He will be at the helm again to chart the future of the sport and try to get TT prepared for the upcoming Beijing Olympics in China next year.

His slate of candidates was also endorsed with George Commissiong (first vice president), Ian Hypolite (second vice president), James Didier (third vice president), Durley Lucas (fourth vice president), Carlene Haynes (treasurer) and Peter Samuel (public relations officer) all returning to office unopposed.