Walcott Makes Me Cry!

SPORTS: WALCOTT MAKES ME CRY
By Andre E Baptiste


Tonight  I cried , I cried and I cried and then I sang , it was one of the best rendtions of the Trinidad and Tobago National anthem, I have ever heard. It was special and will remain forever in my mind , as I watched Trinidad and Tobago's Keshorn Walcott climb the medal podium in gold medal position in the Mens Javelin.

The joy , he produced in London, cannot be described , because he was just smilng and happy , as all of us and while he cooly went out there and turned in two spectacular throws including his second , the 84.58 , that gave him victory in six , the media centre erupted.

Everyone knows , I am a commentator for football , but for the sixth and last round of throws, I was just counted them down with several of the international media and rachel Thompson- King , and we were having real fun.

Before that , it was just a lot of nervous action, as the javeling throwing was taking place between Mo Farah's storming win for Great Britain in the 5000 metres . But none of this phased this focus youngster .

When the last thrower Oleksandr Pyatntsya of the Ukraine stepped forward and threw a 83.53 with his sixth throw, the look on the face of this nineteen year old from Toco was of a mixture of surprise and joy .

" I did not think about winning until after the first round , when I saw how the other guys were throwing and I was still in the lead ," said Walcott.

Many underestimated Walcott , but this youngster stated that he had done a lot of reseatrch on his oppenents and when he mentioned he was a budding cricketer , the international media wanted to know how good he was ," Not that , good , I was a bowler ..."

Walcott was asked about how it feels to be now in the same ranking as Hasely Crawford , previously our only Gold Medallist and he replyed shyly," I am not famous , I just performed well today , I will ensure , I stay focus ,"

Indeed , he is very focussed, he has not forgotten what his mum wanted ," She really believed in me and believed I could get a medal, so I have already given the coach ( Ishmael Lopez) , the flowers for safe keeping for her "

Many wanted to know , if Keshorn had thought about getting a stadium named after him, like Hasely Crawford and he said ," No , I had not thought of it , but I hope so , we will see,".

For Walcott , though he admits ," Brian Charles Lara was my hero growing up, i really like cricket and football , but because my brother was in triple jump, I decided to try this sport in 2009 and now , I have achieved this ,"

Walcott whose success has caused many of the European countries like Norway and Finaland to stand up and recognize TRinidad and Tobago ," I am just so glad to put TRinidad and Tobago on the map again, I have to thank my coach, my family and everyone for all their support "

One persistent question rung through as Walcott did interview after interview including a major Press Conference and it was , if he would now leave Trinidad and Tobago and go elsewhere to train ," No , I am staying in TRinidad and Tobago , I will start university soon and continue to train with my cuban coach, we have something good going on," added Walcott.

This was a very emotional moment to watch our flag raised and our national anthem played for only the second time in history

:: AB