Another fabulous and appealing sporting spectacle that was Rio 2016 is now behind us. It has left unforgettable memories of Usain Bolt majestically completing his astounding triple triple in the showcase sprint segment, and Michael Phelps adding more gold to his already bulging bag in his swimming events. We have seen new faces come to the fore and older ones maintaining some level of dominance in their respective events.
Our heroes were undoubtedly Keshorn Walcott, bronze medal winner, Machel Cedenio, who was a part of an historic race and Michelle-Lee Ayhe both of whom give us hope for medals in forthcoming championships.
No praise is too great for their efforts especially when we listened to Keshorn lamenting that there was no unity in our camp (Guardian, August 22). It seems from reports that they did not gel and the team spirit from London was absent in Rio. Which brings me to the management and support personnel who accompanied the athletes to Rio.
If Keshorn is correct, something was amiss. I was enthralled listening to the analyses and assessments of the performances of the athletes by Dr Ian Hypolite but were we, the viewers, thousands of miles away, supposed to be the beneficiaries of his wisdom? Should it instead have gone into the planning for the athletes’ best performance before they competed and not after?
I have the highest regard and respect for Larry Romany but I disagree with his contention (Newsday, August 22) that only the divisional managers are responsible for the welfare of the athletes. I will respectfully withhold opinion on Ms Henderson’s defence of Dr Hypolite’s priorities as she was part of the delegation.
A cursory glance at what Jamaican, Mr Don Anderson, former Chef De Mission of Olympic teams, had to say about the role of the Chef De Mission (Guardian, August 22) exposes the yawning gap between the two camps and its attitude of management and their approaches to athletes. There is too much personal glorification in appointed positions and not enough attention paid to athletes.
Many cries have gone up for our teams to access the Jamaican model in attempt to bring more success to our shores. If others are prepared to share their knowledge with us then we would benefit, however, if we do not change our approach at the team management level and become less self-absorbed we will be unable to lay the true foundation for success.
We must be cognisant of the fact that this Olympics was the first to produce a solely Caribbean feed for our athletes’ exposure. However, our Chef De Mission should not consider being a colour commentator for expert advice as a major responsibility of his portfolio. We should learn that this job should be left to others.
The athletes are the only ones that matter, everyone else must work toward preparing them for success, ensuring a strong and unified group. Then everyone can share in that said success.
William Rodriguez