media_artricles :: 2015

Rough opening day for TT at ‘Worlds’

TRINIDAD AND Tobago endured arguably the most difficult opening day in the country’s history of competition at major athletic events, when the 15th IAAF World Championships got underway in Beijing, China yesterday. Having lost two athletes to injury even before the games were started, the TT contingent could only watch as, one by one, the three athletes in action on day one were either eliminated in the first round of their discipline or beaten in the final.

Injuries were blamed for the dismal first day returns, just as they were for the abrupt withdrawal of sprinters Rondell Sorillo and Dan- Neil Telesford from the Men’s 100m and the 4 x 100m relay, 48 hours before.

Yesterday, Jehue Gordon, Keston Bledman and Cleopatra Borel all performed way below their best.

Women’s Shot Putter Borel did at least manage to get to her final, even though she finished 12th and last . In the qualifying round, Borel needed just two throws to attain 18.55 metres and a place in the 12-athlete final. Hours later, Borel returned to bid for a medal, but the recently-crowned Pan Am champion struggled, throwing the iron ball 17.43m, skipping a round and then producing just 16.85m. Borel skipped her other three chances, suggesting she might have been injured as well. There was no official word from the TT camp on her situation up to press time.

Meanwhile, Germany’s Christina Schwanitz predictably won the gold, utilising just four attempts and settling for a best of 20.37m.

China’s Lijao Gong won the silver medal (20.30m) and American Michelle Carter (19.76m) took the bronze.

Gordon’s defence of his Men’s 400m Hurdles crown ended in the space of 49.91 seconds- the time it took him to cross the finish in heat two, 7th of the eight runners. Kenya’s Boniface Mucheru Tumuti took the heat with a personal best (PB) of 48.79, while American Michael Tinsley, who Gordon beat for the gold in 2013, followed in 48.91 and Puerto Rico’s Javier Culson ran 3rd in 49.02.

After his elimination, the National Association of Athletic Administrations (NAAA) reported that Gordon’s preparation for the championships had been adversely affected by a “sport hernia”.

Bledman was the third and last TT athlete to see action on the day; running in heat three of the 100 metres, he was slow coming out of the blocks and appeared to decelerate in the final metres, finishing 8th and last in 10.75 seconds. Qatar’s Femi Ogunode (9.99) won the heat from Barbadian Ramon Gittens (10.02) and Ben Youssef Meite of the Ivory Coast (10.05).

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