Putting the IAAF World Relays 2014 into perspective. I have been listening closely to the man on the street, following reports, articles, social media etc, etc. on the performances of our National Track & Field Team at the recently concluded IAAF World Relays that was held in the Bahamas. Where, most that I have seen and heard have been positive, there has been the few negative remarks, e.g “No gold medal”, “only sixth”. This has spurred me on to write the following, and hopefully this would put things into prospective. Let me start with some facts. (1) Forty-three countries took part in the IAAF World Relays. (2) Only thirteen made it onto the podium, Trinidad & Tobago was amongst the thirteen. (3) Trinidad & Tobago was fourth in the medal standings, being one of only four countries that won three or more medals. (4) Eight of the thirteen countries only won one medal. (5) Twenty-Nine of the forty-three countries accumulated points, Trinidad & Tobago was sixth in the point standings. Taking all these facts in to consideration, it is of my opinion that Team Trinidad & Tobago did a fantastic job. Placing fourth in the medal standings (1st U.S.A. 5 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze. 2nd Kenya 3 gold, 1 silver. 3rd Jamaica 2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze. 4th T&T 1 silver, 2 bronze.) was a massive accomplishment, putting us ahead of many track powerhouses. Trinidad & Tobago’s quartet of Kamaria Durant, Michelle Lee Ahye, Reyare Thomas and Kai Selvon (Avg. age 23 ½) re-wrote the history books on day one of the IAAF World Relays when they won bronze in the 4X100m. This was the first time ever that our women have medaled in a relay on the World Stage. What made this achievement such a success is that it came about without the services of Kelly Ann Baptiste and Semoy Hackett. Hopefully these ladies have opened the door for all of our female relay teams. Not to be outdone, our men’s 4X400m team of Lalonde Gordon, Renny Quow, Machel Cedenio and Jarrin Soloman not only won bronze, but they did it in fine style, by setting a new National Record of 2.58.34. What makes this time significant is that it was 1.06 seconds faster than the old record of 2.59.40 (Lalonde Gordon, Jarrin Soloman, Ade Alleyne Forte, Deon Lendore) set on the 10th August 2012 at the London Olympics. Prior to the year 2012 the 4X400m record stood for twenty years (3.01.05) and was established at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona by Patrick Delice, Alvin Daniel, Neil De Silva and Ian Morris. The new guard has made the rest of the track and field world sit up and pay attention to them by running 2.58.34 without Deon Lendore. Deon has run (44.36), the second fastest time over 400m for the year, and with his inclusion and as eighteen year old Machel Cedenio grows from strength to strength, Team T&T should be heading into the 2.57 range if not lower. The last medal and certainly not the least came from our men’s 4X100m team of Keston Bledman, Marc Burns, Rondel Sorrillo and Richard Thompson. The quartet continued the fine spell of 4X100m relay running on the world stage. On their first outing for the 2014 season Team T&T showed decent form in bringing home the silver. Keston Bledman seems to be returning to his best form and Marc Burns is back after a year off, due to injury. Judging from Richard Thompson’s last leg, where he not only caught Britain’s Dwayne Chambers, but also ran past him leaving him in the dust. The future seems bright for all our relay teams. In closing, once again I congratulate all the Athletes, Team Management, Coaches and Medical Staff on a job WELL DONE!
Posted on: Sat, 31 May 2014 06:21:04 +0000
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