THE EDITOR: Let us start with a confession.
When I looked at the qualifying format for the relays at the 2024 Olympics and the times that our selected athletes were running (due mainly to the earliness of the season), I must confess I was extremely worried about TT having no representation in these events at the upcoming games.
Indeed, given our constant Olympics relay presence in the recent past, and our above average performances – in some cases outstanding, including gold in the men’s 4 x 100 in 2008 – our absence would have been nothing short of a travesty.
Consequently, my initial emotion after the two teams qualified on May 5 in Nassau was one of tremendous relief, followed shortly by a feeling of overwhelming pride. The latter was brought about when I saw the heart, grit, determination and talent displayed by our athletes to achieve the objective.
Since it was a total team effort, I am reluctant to single out any one athlete. Just suffice it to say if I had to select a local athlete to run to save my life, it would be Jereem Richards in a relay. Any time a baton is placed in this guy’s hand he is immediately transformed from Prince Adam to He-man.
I am currently somewhat incapacitated and immobile, but I swear I ran that entire last leg of the 4x400 with Shakeem McKay – yes, I was that breathless at the end. In his refusal to be overtaken, this young man displayed the kind of guts and plain “Trini bad mind” reminiscent of the "Prince of Port of Spain" whenever he batted with his back against the wall.
Despite the failure of the men’s 4 x100 to qualify at this point, I have good reason to believe these guys would be on the plane to Paris come August.
If the games were held today, we would have qualified alongside Brazil as the remaining two teams. They are currently 15th, while we are in the 16th and final position. However, the teams below us have until June 30 to improve their times and knock us out of contention, with some breathing down our collective neck. For instance, 17th placed Netherlands practically has the same time as ours, 38.30 (achieved in July 2023).
To be more secure we must look to improve that time. Firstly, to surpass Brazil’s current 38.19, and secondly, to put us out of reach of the chasing pack. It’s therefore comforting to hear the NAAA president saying his organisation would be taking the necessary steps in this regard.
The good news is I think we are more than capable of improving our current time. Note that our second fastest man this year, Devin Augustine, was not in the team at the World Relays (Omari Lewis is currently fastest). Additionally, we now have the luxury of including Richards, who recently ran his PB (personal best) for the 100 metres (10.19) and is currently our third fastest man this year, on the team at one of these meets to supplement the effort.
Hence, I am confident we will have a men’s 4x100 metres team at the Olympics in Paris, and if Keon Benjamin and Eric Harrison could recapture their 2023 form, we may very well be in the mix for a spo
