media_artricles :: 2013

Gordon lauds Johnson Performance Facility

TRINIDAD AND Tobago and World 400-metre hurdles champion Jehue Gordon was delighted over his recent stint at the Michael Johnson Performance (MJP) Facility in McKinney, Texas, United States.

The 21-year-old Gordon was speaking at the launch of a three-day workshop for coaches, facilitated by MJP, at the VIP Lounge of the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo yesterday morning.

The workshop is being held under the auspices of BP Trinidad and Tobago, the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) and the Trinidad and Tobago Paralympic Committee.

Gordon, who claimed gold at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia last August, admitted, “the Michael Johnson experience was an eye- opener for me. I would say, just being associated with such a high-esteemed person and athlete, the hype associated with Michael Johnson was just ‘wow’.

“To know that he was opening up his services to Trinidadian athletes, it was just tremendous,” he continued. “And I was really happy to see that I was chosen by the TTOC to go out there and show off all my physical capabilities, so it would have been assessed.

“So my coach Dr Ian Hypolite would be able to make recommendations and continue the programme to suit how he wanted things to (be), in terms of our goals and objectives for the coming season, and for seasons to come.”

The University of the West Indies (UWI) St Augustine campus student noted that the experience can prove invaluable towards his growth as an athlete.

“We learnt a lot of stuff, especially when it came about to nutrition, because we don’t have a lot of nutritionists in Trinidad,” said Gordon. “Krista Austin, that’s the nutritionists working at the MJP, she was able to map a programme that I was able to use since I left in April.

“So I was able to use her programmes straight up until the World Championships,” he continued. “Even though, at the World Championships, we didn’t have the best suited meals, but I made do with what I had and I stuck to the programme that she wrote.”

With regards to his running technique, Gordon noted the coaches at the Texas venue identified a major area where he can improve on.

“They were able to realise the discrepancies about my body, especially my left side. I wasn’t able to generate as much force from my left foot compared to my right foot. I wasn’t able to be as stable from my left side compared to my right side.

“Hopefully, all the stuff I was able to find out and be able to chart a programme to work on, getting things better and firing at the same time,” he added. TTOC president Brian Lewis also spoke in glowing terms of the MJP’s partnership with the TTOC and BP Trinidad and Tobago.

“It really is an excellent programme,” he said. “The partnership is one that Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee is tremendously happy about. If you want to know how to (get) medals, what’s the mentality that needs to be put in place, what’s the process and systems (and) how you go about doing it, you ask somebody who knows how it is to win medals.”

Lewis continued, “Michael Johnson has won 13 gold medals (at both Olympic and World Championships). It really was a no-brainer. Gold medals is the DNA of Michael Johnson and his team.

“On our elite side, we have a target of ten Olympic gold medals by the year 2024,” he added. “The journey starts from now. I think that with the kind of approach, teamwork and support, I am very confident that we would get our gold medal target.”

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