The Shattered Sky

In some countries, Olympic medals are a given. For a nation like T&T it is a moment of pride when one of its very small Olympic delegation brings home a medal. Yesterday, Richard Thompson brought home the Silver in the Men’s 100m sprint. He was one of five Caribbean athletes to make the final round. Jamaican athletes Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater ran first, fifth and sixth respectively while Trinidadian atheltes Richard Thompson and Marc Burns ran second and seventh respectively. Thompson set a new personal best of 9.89 seconds while Bolt set a 9.69 second world record.

Now I do congratulate Bolt, but before I accept that as a fair win I need to know he was clean when the record was set. If anyone saw the race, Bolt was skipping ahead of the pack and looking back, to the extent that at the end he was not even running. It was one of those finishings that leaves you wondering how anyone could be THAT far ahead of the pack. Regardless, this is not a discussion about Bolt.

Richard Thompson: Congratulations on your Olympic Silver and I would think that given what a hot topic of conversation you became yesterday, you have done your country proud.