Nasser Khan
Sponsored by First Citizens, www.firstcitizenstt.com, this series profiles some of our heroes and pioneers in the various fields such as Agriculture, Business, Community Social Work and Volunteerism, Culture and the Arts, Economics, Education, Engineering and Architecture, Environment, Fashion and Beauty Pageants, Law, Medicine, Oil, Politics, Public Service, Radio and Television, Religion, Science, Sports, Trade Unionism, Writing/Journalism.
In this installment, we celebrate Roger Gibbon (1944- ), T&T's golden cyclist of the 1960s when he became the man to beat at many a cycling competition around the world, in the vastly contrasting sprint and kilometre events. Gibbon attended QRC and at the age of 17 was our champion cyclist winning every distance from the sprints to the long distance races over a period of 8 consecutive years, 1961 to 1968.
He had exciting battles with rising star Leslie King which had fans going wild as well as with international stars like Morelon, Trentin, and Roncaglia. He retired relatively early to focus on his job and family. He later became involved in the administration of the sport. In 1969 he was awarded the T&T Humming Bird Medal Silver.
•1962 GOLD and SILVER: Central American and Caribbean Games,
Kingston, Jamaica, 1,000 meters Time Trial (1st); Match Sprint (2nd)
•1963 SILVER and GOLD: Pan American Games, São Paulo, Brazil, 1,000 meters Time Trial (2nd); Match Sprint (1st)
•1966 GOLD X 2: Central American and Caribbean Games, San Juan,
Puerto Rico - 1,000 meters Time Trial (1st); Match Sprint (1st)
•1966 GOLD X 2: British Commonwealth Games, Kingston, Jamaica, 1,000 meters Time Trial (1st); Match Sprint (1st)
•1967 GOLD X 2: Pan American Games, Winnipeg, Canada, 1,000 meters Time Trial (1st); Match Sprint (1st)
His favourite wins were at the 1966 Commonwealths, where his sprint and kilo wins in the same games have never been emulated. The triumphs hold a special place in his heart because his mother was present, along with his future wife. By his own admission, he was a fierce competitor intent on winning who did what he had to do in terms of fitness and training.
He competed at the Tokyo Olympics where he was not considered a contender but by the time the Mexico Olympics rolled around in 1968 he was at the top of his game and a hot favourite especially in the kilo where he had set an unofficial world record in the same Mexican conditions less than a year earlier, just after his Worlds bronze and Pan Am golden double. Regretfully he did not medal since he did not have time to acclimatize to the altitude. In hindsight, he would have flown in as late as possible, which was the best approach so as not to allow the altitude to take effect until later on.
Profiles on these 370+ heroes & pioneers can be viewed online, the e-book version, at http://www.safaripublications.com/firstcitizenstt/heroesprofilestt/ , courtesy First Citizens. For hard copies email ourheroestt@gmail.com
