media_artricles :: 2014

Borel looking to 2015

National women’s shot put champion, Cleopatra Borel, is one individual who’s excited about what 2015 has to offer, having already placed her 2014 achievements behind her. Borel, who closed her season with a gold medal performance at last month’s Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in Mexico, told Express at last week’s Cougar Athletic Club’s 2014 Award Ceremony that she’s rearing to get going once more.

“After CAC I took two weeks off. This is the third week since and I’ve started jogging and trying to get back into shape. I really miss training because training is sort of my happy time so I miss it and I’m ready to go again. And while she and her coach, Ismael Lopez Mastrapa have not laid out any specific plans as yet, they are very optimistic.

“We’re are looking at the Pan Am Games and World Championships and we really want to build on the work that we did this year so we’re really excited,” Borel said, adding that they were quite satisfied with her execution this season, which was a quite a contrast to that of 2013.

This year Borel struggled to find any form of consistency to the point where she failed to break the 18-metre mark in any of her outings, though she did retain her CAC Championships title with a 17.56m effort, to end with a season’s best 17.84m.

“Primarily what happened in 2013 is that I moved back to Trinidad so it was sort of a transition year for me and also getting to know my coach and his system,” Borel continues, “Additionally, at the beginning of 2013 I suffered an injury to my hand but I believed that 2013 would have been good if we hadn’t sustain that injury so this year was the icing on the cake of what last year should have been.”

This year, Borel had three throws over 19 metres including a season’s best 19.13m in Brussels on September 5 and has bettered the 18.50m mark in over 75 per cent of her outings, inclusive of the 18.57m effort that earned her silver at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in July and her 18.99m throw that secured CAC gold.

“I feel really good about the season. It was really hard to get back to the point where I was consistently around the 19-metre mark so to finish up the year at 18.99 was really good,” she said, adding that it was within the range her coach was looking for so she’s happy with that. Her mood today, however, is quite different from someone who had twice before given consideration to retiring from competing.

“In 2008 and again 2012 I was ready to throw in the towel but it was just my experience at the London Olympics and the feeling like I’ve been cheated out of something that I worked for and just wanting the opportunity to make sure that no one can take that away from me again.”

At the London Olympics Borel missed out on making the final by one spot when she finished the qualifying round in 13th position with a best effort of 18.36m. She would be further aggrieved when eventual gold medallist Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus was disqualified after testing positive for a performing enhancing substance. Ostapchuk’s disqualification meant Borel was denied the opportunity of competing in the shot put final.

Borel added part of her motivation to continue came from hooking up with Mastrapa. “I’ve been fortunate where I have always managed to have the right coach for the phase of life that I’m in and right now Mastrapa wants me to do his programme in a certain manner but he also gives me the freedom to make my own input based on my experience. ‘’We have a really good working relationship and he makes sure I don’t take things too seriously and that I don’t get stressed as he encourages me to be happy, to have fun and enjoy what I do.”

The three-time Olympian also feels motivated by being a pioneer, able to set the tone and raise the bar for other female throwing athletes in Trinidad and Tobago. “Candace Scott and I were in fact the first female throwers to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Olympics and for us it was knowing that others wanted to come behind as there were other young women out there interested in the throws, and in sports in general we just wanted to be a good example for the women of Trinidad and Tobago.

And Borel is hopeful that she can raise the bar even further if 2015 goes according to plan. “You don’t get a year and a half out from the Olympics so definitely we have our sights set on Rio 2016.”

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