Je­lani Beck­les

Pres­i­dent of the T&T Olympic Com­mit­tee (TTOC) Bri­an Lewis said there is no mar­gin for er­ror and all ob­sta­cles must be re­moved, as the T&T ath­letes be­gin their fi­nal prepa­ra­tions to­wards the 2016 Olympic Games.

The 2016 Olympic Games be­gin on Au­gust 5 next year in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Lewis, speak­ing at a press con­fer­ence yes­ter­day at the Olympic House, Aber­crom­by Street, Port-of-Spain, said: "To­day around the world the Olympic move­ment is be­ing cel­e­brat­ed - one year to go to the open­ing cer­e­mo­ny of the Rio 2016 Games. A jour­ney for some that start­ed when they were five years old and will cul­mi­nate in Rio."

He added: "There is no mar­gin for er­ror, as our ath­letes, coach­es and ad­min­is­tra­tors will tell you we are at a par­tic­u­lar point where every­thing that can be done, must be done. What­ev­er ob­sta­cles there are, they must be re­moved. What­ev­er door is closed, must be opened. What­ev­er chan­nels are blocked must be freed."

The TTOC pres­i­dent said that next year's Olympics is the be­gin­ning of the goal for ten or more gold medals by 2024.

"A cou­ple years ago I had a vi­sion for ten or more Olympic gold medals by the year 2024. Ini­tial­ly the ma­jor­i­ty of the peo­ple I spoke to were neg­a­tive. But there are a cou­ple I would like to men­tion be­cause they were an in­spi­ra­tion at that point in time. One of the first peo­ple I had that dis­cus­sion with was Keshorn Wal­cott. I then spoke to Hase­ly Craw­ford and he was sup­port­ive."

Lewis al­so stat­ed that Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tions (NAAA) pres­i­dent Ephraim Ser­rette, Sen­a­tor El­ton Prescott Sec­re­tary Gen­er­al An­nette Knott and the TTOC ex­ec­u­tive al­so showed their sup­port.

Lewis said the per­for­mance of the na­tion­al ath­letes at the Pan Amer­i­can Games made more peo­ple be­lieve that ten or more gold medals by 2024 is pos­si­ble. "The per­for­mances of our ath­letes at the Pan Am Games in Toron­to start­ed to make some peo­ple be­lieve that it may be pos­si­ble and af­ter all it was not far fetched and un­re­al­is­tic."

T&T won eight medals at the re­cent­ly con­clud­ed Pan Amer­i­can Games, the most in the coun­try's his­to­ry.

Lewis has al­so spo­ken to may­or of Port-of-Spain Ray­mond Tim Kee about mak­ing Lord Har­ris Square in­to an Olympic Vil­lage and call­ing the sur­round­ing area Olympic Neigh­bour­hood.

Pan Amer­i­can medal win­ners Keshorn Wal­cott, Em­manuel Cal­len­der and Dan-neil Teles­ford were all in at­ten­dance to re­ceive their medal in­cen­tives. Wal­cott won gold in the javelin, while Cal­len­der and Teles­ford were part of the 4X100m men's team that won bronze.

Na­tion­al As­so­ci­a­tion of Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tions (NAAA) pres­i­dent Ephraim Ser­rette, said the re­la­tion­ship be­tween the TTOC and the NAAA is ex­cel­lent. "I al­ways be­lieve in team and as the pres­i­dent in­di­cat­ed we have an ex­cel­lent work­ing re­la­tion­ship, we un­der­stand what it takes to get to a high lev­el. I am very for­tu­nate to be at the helm of the As­so­ci­a­tion at this time and have the sup­port of peo­ple like Hase­ly Craw­ford who un­der­stands what it takes to get to the top."