media_artricles :: 2016

Champion Keshorn Walcott: No unity in Rio

Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott who won T&T's only medal at the Rio Olympics which ended yesterday, has blasted the lack of team spirit and unity within the T&T camp during the Games.

"We did not do so well as a team this year because honestly, for my part, we were not a team. We did not come together as a unit as in 2012. I was young in 2012 and I was one of the younger ones and I saw the gelling of the team, but here it was not like that. I would not say it was the athletes, I would have to say it was the heads. You need to be able to understand that for a team to be able to perform properly you need to bring them together."

Walcott, who stunned the world in London in 2012 at the age of 19 when he became the second Trinidadian to win an Olympic gold medal, said the overall environment was bad for everyone.

"It is the environment. When you as a team do not feel everybody is together (it) is like everybody is just concentrating on their own," he added.

Asked about the pre-Olympic camp organised by the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee, which was designed to bring the team together, Walcott brazenly dismissed that, "Let's move on," he said.

Walcott said that people needed to be aware of how tough competition is at the Olympics. "These are the best athletes in the world and people need to understand that."

Walcott was high in praise for his coach Cuban Ishmael Lopez-Mastrapa.

"I have so much to be thankful for my coach especially and all my team because my coach has brought me here today. He has worked with me so much I thank him. This is because of him," said Walcott.

The Toco-born Walcott said he was again very proud of his achievement.

"I am glad that we have a medal for Trinidad and Tobago and hope for support going forward. It is not easy competing against the best, so I just to thank God for that and all he has done and continues to do for me," said a proud Walcott.

"I am just happy to get a medal. I wanted gold but to be in the top three was good enough. It has been a tough season; not the build-up I would have wanted leading up to these Games but I just kept on trying my best," said Walcott.

"I wanted to win four gold medals by 2024, but now I will have to settle for three and that is my goal—to keep improving and to not be concerned by other matters."

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