DAVID SCARLETT
FORMER Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Brian Lewis has defended his "10 golds by 2024" initiative despite it not achieving its target. He also looked to the positives from TT's medal-less Paris Olympics campaign.
Many on social media have criticised Lewis, the TTOC, government and sporting bodies for not putting a proper structure in place to achieve the lofty objective of winning ten gold medals in ten years.
In an interview with Newsday, after TT's second straight Olympic Games without a medal, Lewis stood by the initiative, launched in 2014.
As part of the initiative, the then Lewis-led TTOC introduced medal bonuses, the athletes’ welfare and preparation fund, merchandise, and funding for athletes who aspired to win an Olympic medal, which complemented the other programmes that already existed.
Since its inception, TT won one Olympic bronze medal (Keshorn Walcott – men’s javelin throw, 2016) and three Paralympic medals (Akeem Stewart – gold in the men’s javelin throw, silver in the men’s discus throw; Nyoshia Cain – bronze in the women’s 100m).
There was also success for the 4x400m men's relay team with gold at the 2017 World Championships in London, an improvement from their silver at the 2015 meet in Beijing. The team also won gold at the 2019 World Relays in Japan.
Lewis said, “In hindsight, many may question if ‘10 Golds 24’ was an unrealistic goal. The ten-year plan, in terms of long-term athlete development, is the normal length of time to develop an Olympic-level athlete and champion. If we don’t set a goal of going for gold, then what is the goal? We have to start with a goal.
“I’m not making any excuses or apologising for setting a goal. I’d like anyone who achieved anything of significance to tell me that they didn’t set a goal. To me, the conversation is not based on accepting limits. The real conversation is about what we have learned from our failures."
He said the initiative was geared towards creating a space for youths to dream big.
“If you say that ’10 Golds 24’ was unrealistic, then what you’re really saying is that the aspirations of our young people, to be the best that they can be, was unrealistic.”
Lewis commended the national athletes for their performance in Paris.
“Our athletes, each and every one of them, would have done their best. So we can’t ask where they would have gone wrong,”
TTO’s closest chance for a medal came through 400m sprinter, Jereem Richards, who broke the national record, clocking 43.78 seconds to finish fourth, four hundredths of a second behind the bronze medal recipient.
Lewis said, “Jereem Richards made TT history. No other TT athlete ever clocked sub-44; 43.78 would have won a gold medal in previous years.”
“Keshorn Walcott, after suffering a potential career-ending Achilles tendon injury strived through to not only qualify for Paris 2024, but to also finish seventh by throwing his best distance in an Olympic Games (86.16m), which was also his season’s best.”
“Also, Nicholas Paul made the (kei
