Some of you want to soft-talk this Olympic experience and conclude that all of our athletes did their very best and were just unfortunate. If we accept that, then nothing will change for the better for TTO T&F.
This Olympics was underwhelming, plain and simple - no matter how much lipstick we want to put on the pig.
When you have athletes performing worse at the Olympic Games than they did at TTO Olympic trials, that is a failure. Conditions were no worse, and most likely better at the Rio Olympic stadium (track, wind, competition, etc).
We therefore have to evaluate why not just a few, but a significant measure of our seasoned and professional athletes, receiving elite funding, and resident at world-class training groups in the US could get it so wrong. If we don't then we pissing into the wind.
I for one will not advocate calling athletes by puerile names nor offering up destructive criticism, but when they do not perform up to their capabilities then it begs a question - are they injured, are they fully-fit as they say, did they overtrain, were they mentally prepared, were they properly peaked and tapered, were the OG village accommodations inadequate, was the food in the OG village a cause of any discomfort, etc.
In a news article the team mentioned they had a GREAT camp. I beg to differ.
100m MEN
No one ran even close to their SB, OG trial times, far less their PB, at the Olympic Games, the Olympic Games people - what they all train their lives for. Given that our 100/200m sprinters are aging and in their last OG cycle, if no one comes forward to mention that they are carrying an injury/niggle, etc. then this campaign was a failure in preparation, a failure in peaking or tapering, a failure in judging ones efforts during the rounds - all extremely disappointing for an experienced group.
4x100m MEN
While we competed commendably in the semis, our experienced athletes had a lane or passing zone violation in the final, something that we have been astute enough in the past OGs to prevent. Not one athlete nor designated coach has come forward and owned up as an adult or professional to say, look it was my fault and not my intention, not one person.
4x100m WOMEN
Someone has to speak up about Khalifa St. Fort's underwhelming performance on anchor and why a change was not made. The first indication was in the semis. An 11.16 performer does not get gapped or overtaken by some of our competition (Germany and Nigeria) that hardly has that talent even on their anchor (Okagbare ran the 2nd leg). I have to assume the young lady is not 100%, because no one has voiced up to it.
4x400m MEN
This was a most disappointing result. Lalonde Gordon suffered a mental mishap that as an experienced pro, he should not have, and needs to verbally take responsibility and move on.
Maybe I'm premature here. Maybe once they leave Rio and collect their thoughts they will do so. But all we are hearing is that they all did their very best and the lost opportunities were just misfortunes. That is not what I'd expect from professionals. You are receiving all sorts of financial assistance - explain yourself.
In some of the events, we had athletes meeting the qualifying standards but did not expect medals (110m hurdles, 200m MEN and WOMEN, 400m hurdles WOMEN). Then there was the 400m hurdles MEN (why was Jehue Gordon selected). What, he get a pass because he "in the club"? He was a world champion 3 years ago but has declined (48.7, 49.2, 49.98). it is only recently we are hearing about recovery from surgery.
So to one poster,
YES, we need to revamp the entire approach including marketing, promotion, proper coaching, funding redistribution to improve the appeal and brand of T&F in TTO.
YES, some of us in the forum are actually former TTO junior and senior athletes who have experienced the hamster wheel ourselves, know what we are talking about, and want to see TTO T&F get out of this sad story cycle.
But we keep doing the same crap. Maybe you've heard the recycled story - "A world class talent or 2 comes along every 5-10 years, we ride that/those athletes back, showering them with praise, gifts and resources, like a Nobel Prize recipient, while neglecting the 99%. Then we fool the public with short memories into believing that T&F is on an upswing. When said athlete(s) pass(es) their peak we start to denigrate them and leave them out in the cold, unless they are locally connected, got an education along the way, or decide to stay abroad".
So let's be honest, objective, and analytical here. Achieving sustainable improvement will not come by chance, there is a measure of will, science, expertise, and practicality needed.