That a 19-year-old youngster from Toco can go to the Olympic Games and win a gold medal against the world's best competitors seems more like the stuff of fairy tales than an actual real-life event. But that happens to be the amazing achievement which now excites our country into a paroxysm of pride and jubilation. Indeed, Trinis now appreciate that what Keshorn Walcott did at London's Olympic Stadium last Saturday was, in many ways, more remarkable than any other achievement at the games. First he, a youth from a remote rural area of a small underdeveloped state in the Caribbean, excelled in a traditional sport, the javelin throw, that had long been the exclusive domain of athletes from the well-established countries of Europe and Scandinavia. Keshorn, in fact, is the first Olympian from the Western Hemisphere to win an Olympic field event in 60 years and the youngest ever to do it. In throwing the javelin a record distance of 84.58 metres, the Toco boy, in effect, created a one-man revolution, breaking a kind of cultural barrier and demonstrating the characteristic democracy of competitive sport itself.
As far as T&T is concerned, Walcott's achievement comes upon us like a breath of fresh air, boosting our jaded spirit. At a time of besetting problems, particularly when so many of our young people seem to be failing the common test of survival, we could hardly wish for a more inspiring example of success against the prevailing odds. Or a more refreshing reminder that our country contains the stuff of which champions are made and that if we try hard enough, if we pursue our goals with the kind of determination shown by young Walcott, then we too can make it. In the arena of T&T chess, influence of the Walcottian saga may well play a part in the quest for higher honours. The country, for example, is yet to produce a player of International Master class, although a few have achieved a measure of success at the world chess Olympiad and other major tournaments abroad. However the lesson to be derived from Walcott's olympian feat would most usefully be applied to the group of aspiring young chess players who clearly possess enough natural talent to mark them as future champions.
As the story goes, throwing the javelin came naturally to the Tobago schoolboy. He had the required strength, the physical coordination, the love for the sport and the lust to be the best in it. But the youngster needed more than those qualities to be a champion; he needed to master the special technique which this ancient sport requires. In other words, he needed a professional coach, one who would be able to hone his natural talents into an effective throwing machine. Fortunately, he found that trainer in the Cuban Ismael Mastrafe who shaped him first into the gold winner at the World Junior Championships in Barcelona last month and now at the London Olympics. If any of our young and talented chess players are to make a similar kind of breakthrough in the international arena it seems only too obvious that he or she has to come under the consistent care of a professional coach. To provide this kind of higher training is clearly is a challenge for the T&T Chess Association which, under a new administration, needs to clear away the divisive detritus of the past, put its house in proper order and establish its commitment to progress in order to earn the necessary support of both the public and private sectors. The new president Russell Smith, with his official connections in the world chess body, may be in the best position to achieve this kind of breakthrough. He would be well advised, however, to adjust the Association's old priorities, concentrating less on foreign trips and more on developing the skills of bright young players including getting the Association's chess-in-school programme going at last.
