http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,164741.htmlOLYMPIC MILLONAIRE
By STEPHON NICHOLAS Tuesday, August 14 2012
As all sons do, Keshorn Walcott made promises to his mother Beverly. His were to bring her back a gold medal from the 2012 Olympic Games and the bouquet of roses, he would receive when presented with his top prize.Walcott, a humble 19-year-old from the small village of Trois Roche in Toco, yesterday dutifully delivered these gifts to his mother, even as the country gave him gifts of his own: a rousing, jubilant celebration of his Olympic javelin gold and millions of dollars worth in cash, land and property for his stellar achievement.
It was a heartwarming moment at the VIP room of the Piarco International Airport when Walcott surprised his mother with the roses, planting a loving kiss on her cheeks as she blushed in delight.
“I got my roses,” Beverly gushed as he presented the flowers to her.
It was the first time mother and son were seeing each other since Walcott left for the World Junior Championships in Spain on July 6. There he won gold, beginning a journey that would see him stun the athletics world when, last Saturday, at the Olympic Stadium in London, England, he became the first person from the Western Hemisphere in 60 years to win an Olympic field event.
The sport of javelin has been dominated by Europeans for decades and Walcott’s victory left some of the world’s best by the wayside, among them the 2011 World Champion Matthias de Zordo of Germany and the favourite going into the Olympics.
As he touched down at Piarco yesterday, thousands packed the airport’s atrium, arriving by cars, buses and maxi taxis, to give this Toco son a hero’s welcome.
At a massive reception, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar lauded the teenager who has brought glory not only to himself but a nation yearning for something positive.
A beaming Persad-Bissessar, revealed a plethora of gifts which her Government decided to bestow upon Walcott in honour of his historic performance.
Walcott, TT’s first ever Olympic javelin finalist, is now a millionaire and will receive $1 million cash as well as a house in Federation Park worth $2.5 million.
The teenager will also get 20,000 square feet of land in the Toco area, a scholarship to study anything he desires at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), one of the new Caribbean Airlines’ aircraft will be named after him, and the Toco lighthouse will now be known as the Keshorn Walcott lighthouse.
As a gift to Toco for producing this country’s second Olympic gold medallist, the Ministry of Housing and Housing Development Company (HDC) will construct a housing development scheme there which will provide jobs for people in largely fishing community in east Trinidad. A proposal has also been sent to Cabinet for the establishment of a training facility exclusively for field athletes.
As an estimated 8,000 screaming fans in Piarco, clad patriotically in red, vigorously waved miniature national flags and chanted his name, the quiet-spoken athlete stayed true to his roots despite his world seemingly changing during the Prime Minister’s speech.Asked what these gifts would mean to his life, Walcott paused for a few seconds before stating he hopes everything remains the same.
“I don’t really know...I doubt (it would change). I wouldn’t want my life to change but I will just keep doing what I am doing,” he quietly told Newsday.
But yesterday’s massive reception seemed to overwhelm Walcott who struggled to find words to express how he felt while speaking to the thousands before him who chanted “Keshy, Keshy”.
Olympic cyclist Njisane Phillip, who returned on the flight with Walcott, gave the javelin athlete moral support, keeping close to him as did Walcott’s mother.
The six-foot tall World Junior champ thanked the Prime Minister and Minister of Sport Anil Roberts for their support and also paid tribute to those close to him.
“Thanks to my Moms, my Dad (Andy King), my two brothers (Elton and Trenton), my entire family, and most of all I would like to thank God for health and strength. And lastly I’d like to thank you for all the support. I almost forgot my coach, also my manager Sean Roach,” he told his fans, before asking his manager if he wanted to say something.
A pumped-up Roach told the crowd, Walcott’s gold was not his alone but theirs as well.
Walcott is now the man his peers will be hoping to beat in the future but the Toco athlete is unfazed by this new burden of expectation upon his broad shoulders.
“Throughout the year I’ve been training normal so I’m just going back to that and sticking with my coach (Ismael Lopez Mastrapa). I know there is going to be a lot of expectation for me now but I’m just going to have to live with it,” he said.
With a gold medal adorning his neck, Walcott admitted, though, that he was just content reaching the Olympic final and was not expecting to be among the medal winners.
“Throughout that competition I was relaxed, I wasn’t really paying much attention to the competition because I told myself that making the final was good enough for me at age 19 and I went out there just to do my best,” he explained.
And his best was the perfect gift to the country to celebrate its 50th anniversary of Independence on August 31.
With yesterday a holiday to commemorate Walcott’s phenomenal achievement, his adoring fans swarmed the airport to give the javelin champion.
It was a Carnival-like atmosphere reminiscent of the return of the Soca Warriors to Trinidad following their qualification to the Germany World Cup in 2005.
It was virtually a sea of red from around 9 am with fans eagerly awaiting the arrival of Walcott and the rest of the TT Olympic contingent at 9.45 am.
Even a one-hour flight delay and intermittent showers failed to dampen the spirit of the mammoth crowd who were entertained by steelpan, tassa, a rhythm section, music trucks and moko jumbies, and Soca and Road March champ Machel Montano.
The crowds then joined in a motorcade that snaked from Piarco and crawled along the Eastern Main Road, passing through Arouca, Arima, only reaching Sangre Grande at about 6.30 pm.
The final stop, Toco Composite School, where his hometown residents waited patiently for hours for the return of their king.
